Updated at 6:523 a.m. on Tuesday 10/1. This is the latest information from PG&E.
PG&E has restored power to nearly all of its customers who had their power turned off Monday during the utility's first Public Safety Power Shutoff this fall.
According to its latest update, PG&E says a little more than 200 customers are still without power in Shasta County. The utility says power for those customers is expected to be restored by noon today.
The utility has been monitoring the possibility of more windy weather conditions for the Butte County area.
*This section of the story was published earlier and is no longer being updated.
PG&E says it has restored power to more than half of the 9,400 customers who were affected by its Public Safety Power Shutoff today.
The outage covered portions of five counties in the North State. The majority of shut offs remain in Shasta County.
In an email, Paul Moreno who is a spokesperson for PG&E, said these are the current numbers of affected customers remaining in the region:
Butte - 414
Colusa - 480
Glenn - 161
Shasta - 3,065
Tehama - 17
Moreno said those numbers will continue to lower as power continues to be restored throughout the evening.
However, the utility says it is monitoring a second wave of windy weather that could result in power again being turned off for Butte County residents who already had their power shut off this morning and are in the process of having turned back on.
A hot and dry forecast continues for the week
Courtney Carpenter, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacrament, said winds are expected to abate today, but fire weather conditions will persist.
“We’re still expecting dry weather and very hot temperatures through the week so we’re not out of the woods for fire season yet,” Carpenter said.
California has seen record-high temperatures this summer, and it will remain hot for the next few days.
“Temperatures are above normal for this time of year,” she said. “Some 10 to 15 degrees above normal so definitely warmer than we typically see but mostly below records for this time of year so far.
PG&E said it’s communicating with customers and said it was a “dynamic and continually evolving” situation.
Click here to view PG&E's map of current and potential outages.
*This section of the story was published earlier and is no longer being updated.
Around 9,400 PG&E customers in five North State counties were without power today.
That’s after the utility de-energized power lines due to high winds and low humidity, which caused elevated fire weather concerns in many areas of the region
“These are all generally foothill areas. They’re all high fire threat areas,” said Paul Moreno, spokesperson for PG&E. “We are watching the weather very closely. We expect to get the all clear today to begin patrols. And as we move down the line and patrol customers, we will be restoring power.”
The utility has begun patrols to assess for any damage, make repairs and prepare to restore power, according to its website. Moreno told NSPR that power will be restored incrementally after power lines are examined.
“Not everyone will get their power back on at the same time,” he said “It’s a step process and we work to restore power as quickly as we can.”
In Shasta County, 7,988 customers had their power turned off. The number is 415 in Butte County, and 1,041 in Glenn, Colusa and Tehama counties.
Earlier this afternoon PG&E said it expected to have service restored for all customers by this evening.
In its latest update at 4 p.m., PG&E said it’s also monitoring a second wave of windy weather this evening that could result in the utility turning off power for about 400 customers in Butte County. The utility said this would be the same group that had their power shut off this morning and are currently in the process of having power restored.
A hot and dry forecast continues for the week
Courtney Carpenter, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacrament, said winds are expected to abate today, but fire weather conditions will persist.
“We’re still expecting dry weather and very hot temperatures through the week so we’re not out of the woods for fire season yet,” Carpenter said.
California has seen record-high temperatures this summer, and it will remain hot for the next few days.
“Temperatures are above normal for this time of year,” she said. “Some 10 to 15 degrees above normal so definitely warmer than we typically see but mostly below records for this time of year so far.
PG&E said it’s communicating with customers and said it was a “dynamic and continually evolving” situation.
Click here to view PG&E's map of current and potential outages.
*This section of the story was published earlier and is no longer being updated.
PG&E turned off power for about 1,200 people in Butte and Shasta counties early this morning due to fire weather concerns.
The company says the Public Safety Power Shutoff is affecting about 415 customers in Butte County and 823 customers in Shasta County.
PG&E says it informed customers about the event and it's monitoring weather conditions for additional places where power could be turned off.
Click here to view PG&E's map of current and potential outages.
NSPR will continue to monitor the situation.
*This section of the story was published earlier and is no longer being updated.
Many North State residents could have their power turned off Monday and Tuesday due to windy conditions that could create elevated fire weather.
PG&E says it hasn’t called a Public Safety Power Shutoff yet, but says it's monitoring the situation and has several areas listed in the Northern Sacramento Valley and surrounding foothills where customers could be affected.
This list includes parts of six North State counties and two tribal areas.
Shasta County has the most customers listed as possibly affected at nearly 8,000. That's followed by Tehama County at nearly 2,000, and Butte, Colusa, Glenn and Trinity counties with hundreds of resident being potentially affected. The Glenstone Rancheria and Pit River Tribes are also on the list.
The number of customers PG&E says could potentially have their power turned off in North State counties and tribal areas:
- Butte - 415
- Colusa - 545
- Glenn - 555
- Shasta - 7,982
- Tehama - 1,986
- Trinity - 265
- Grindstone Rancheria - 44
- Pit River Tribes - 6
Some parts of the North Bay Area may also have power turned off.
At this point, PG&E says shut offs could be delayed or canceled.
The company says if any shut offs are called, they’d likely occur this morning and they’d hope to have customers' power restored by tomorrow evening.
PG&E says 12 community resource centers have been planned to offer Wi-Fi, air conditioning and bottled water among other resources.
Click here to view PG&E's map of current and potential outages.
NSPR will continue to monitor the situation.
