Power is coming back: 1,092 Sonoma County customers still out Friday evening as PG&E crews resume restoration Saturday morning
The fire weather that drove this week's shutoff has passed for Sonoma County. PG&E reported more than 66,000 customers restored by Friday evening, after restoration began Friday afternoon instead of the original Saturday afternoon estimate, and the county's remaining outages had fallen from 2,041 on Friday morning to 1,092 by 5 p.m.
SONOMA: The shutoff is ending the way it was always going to end, line by inspected line. PG&E said the weather conditions that prompted this week's Public Safety Power Shutoff had passed for Sonoma County by Friday afternoon, and by 7:30 p.m. on Friday the utility reported that power had been restored to more than 66,000 customers across its service area, after crews completed safety inspections of power lines and equipment.
For Sonoma County, the Friday numbers trace the turn. PG&E's own Friday morning list put 2,041 county customers de-energized, the full local de-energized count for the event. By 5 p.m. on Friday, a PG&E spokesperson told KPIX, 1,092 Sonoma County customers remained without power. KION Central Coast, carrying the KPIX reporting, put the other Bay Area totals at 5 p.m. at 2,592 in Napa County, 2,130 in Alameda County and 43 in Contra Costa County, a Bay Area total of 5,857, and reported that Solano County's roughly three dozen outages had all been restored.
A day ahead of the original estimate
The restoration came faster than first promised. KION reported that improving weather conditions meant PG&E expected to start bringing service back on Friday afternoon, a day ahead of the original Saturday-afternoon estimate, and PG&E's updates show the sequence: initial patrols begun by 12:30 p.m. on Friday in 19 counties including Sonoma, then, by 4:30 p.m., the weather declared passed for Sonoma and the other listed counties, with about 33,611 customers, 39 percent of those impacted, already restored. The red flag warning from the National Weather Service expired earlier on Friday, forecasters said the strong offshore winds were easing, and the marine layer was expected to push back in along with a general cooling trend next week, though moderate heat lingers into Saturday.
Statewide, the event that began on Wednesday had totaled nearly 90,000 customers out, KION reported. PG&E's Friday morning accounting put the de-energized total at 85,905 customers. Against that, the more than 66,000 restored by Friday evening leaves fewer than 20,000 customers still out by that accounting, spread across the foothill and coastal counties, with Sonoma County's share down to the 1,092 counted at 5 p.m.
What Saturday holds for the remaining customers
The work is not finished. PG&E said patrols and restoration work would pick back up in the morning, once conditions were safe, until every remaining customer had power again. Restoration follows inspection: crews must check lines and equipment and repair any damage found before a circuit can be re-energized.
"PG&E understands the disruption an extended outage can cause and appreciates our customers' patience as crews complete this important safety work," the utility said in its Friday evening update. Customers can check the latest shutoff and restoration information for their own address at pge.com/pspsupdates. For the valley households still dark on Saturday morning, that address check, and the sight of patrol crews on the roads above the valley floor, are the two things that matter.
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