Latest PG&E news: Tuesday wind event will trigger another round of power shut-offs

Power outages around the Bay Area and Northern California at 10 p.m. on Oct. 26, 2019. Power outages around the Bay Area and Northern California at 10 p.m. on Oct. 26, 2019. Photo: Screenshot / PG&E Photo: Screenshot / PG&E Image 1 of / 28 Caption Close Latest PG&E news: Tuesday wind event will trigger another round of power shut-offs 1 / 28 Back to Gallery

FOR THE LATEST ON PG&E'S NEXT ROUND OF POWER SHUT-OFFS STARTING TUESDAY, READ SFGATE'S NEW STORY HERE.

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LATEST: Oct. 28, 7 a.m.: Some customers may not have power restored by next outage

Pacific Gas and Electric Company said in a news release Monday that the utility company has begun the restoration process after a historic deliberate power outage, but some customers who are currently without power may not have it restored before the next wave of shut-offs begins Tuesday.

This means some customers may be in the dark for five to seven days.

UPDATE: Oct. 27, 6 p.m.: More than 1 million customers have been affected by outages

More than 1 million PG&E customers have been affected by power outages over the past several days, a spokesperson for the utility said in a press conference. Of those affected, 965,000 lost power due to the planned, proactive outages. Roughly another 100,000 customers had power go out due to high winds knocking down power poles, or other unanticipated damage to PG&E infrastructure.

PG&E may not have time to make all the repairs needed before high winds blow into the region again this week. The company is preparing for a third widespread power shut-off in less than a month starting on Tuesday morning.

It's not yet clear exactly how many customers will be affected by the latest shut-off, though PG&E says it has already given 500,000 customers a 48-hour notice they will lose power. A spokesperson emphasized that number will change over the next two days.

As it pertains to the Bay Area, the scope of North Bay outages is expected to be "similar" to the current PSPS. The impact to East Bay and South Bay customers is supposed to be somewhat smaller.

Some of those who are currently without power may not have it restored before the next wave of shut-offs begins Tuesday.

"With all the bad news I've been up here letting you know about the past couple weeks, I do have a sliver of good news," said PG&E meteorologist Scott Strenfel, before saying long-range weather models don't show any other dangerous wind events in the forecast after this week.

UPDATE: Oct. 27, 4:30 p.m.: Power goes out on Yerba Buena Island

The power went out across Yerba Buena Island amid high winds Sunday afternoon, according to the City of San Francisco. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission responded to the incident and was troubleshooting the cause. No estimated time of repair was given.

Yerba Buena Island sits between San Francisco and Oakland. It is attached to manmade Treasure Island.

UPDATE: Oct. 27, 2 p.m. PG&E monitoring another wind event on Tuesday

Pacific Gas & Electric says it is watching a third major wind event expected later this week in Northern and Central California that could trigger widespread power shut-offs.

Gust conditions are forecast to develop Tuesday night into Thursday morning and PG&E is considering deliberately cutting power in portions of Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba. (Note: PG&E said this list is subject to change.)

The company said in a news release Sunday that this is a separate wind event from the one that kicked up gusts overnight Saturday and that is continuing Sunday into Monday.

This news comes when more than 2 million people remain without power Sunday from a shutoff that began Saturday. The utility company said it "will make every effort to restore power to as many customers as possible who are currently out of power due to the Oct. 26 PSPS event." But due to the weather, some customers will be in the dark for the duration of both events.

"The period of weather risk starts Tuesday and continues through Thursday morning," PG&E said in a statement. "The dry, windy weather pattern is expected to reach from the northern portions of PG&E’s service territory and down through the Sacramento Valley, before spreading into the central areas of the state, including the Bay Area."

If the winds hold and the utility cuts power, it would be the third major power shut-off in a week.

UPDATE: Oct. 27, 7:50 a.m.: Millions without power in Northern California

PG&E has shut off power to 900,000 customers, meaning an estimated 2 million California residents are experiencing an outage at their home.

Nearly every planned public safety shut-off has been completed; shut-offs in Kern, Fresno and Madera counties will occur on Sunday. Kern is losing power at 9 p.m. Sunday, while Fresno and Madera counties are still listed as "to be determined" on PG&E's outage site.

UPDATE: Oct. 26, 8:15 p.m.: Phase Three shuts off power to eight Bay Area counties

Starting at 8 p.m., PG&E entered its third phase of shut-offs, which was set to affect Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in the Bay Area. The first outages appeared to start in Moraga (Contra Costa County) as well as San Mateo, South San Francisco and Vallejo.

Just after 8:30 p.m., the City of San Jose said power shut-offs were in effect for the Almaden and Evergreen neighborhoods. By 9 p.m., the outages appeared to be fairly widespread around all Bay Area counties except for San Francisco.

As the latest round of shut-offs went into effect, PG&E's live outage map was intermittently down, possibly due to high traffic on the site.

UPDATE: Oct. 26, 6:30 p.m.: Phase Two of shut-offs in effect

By 6:30 p.m., PG&E had moved to Phase Two of its power shut-off procedures, leaving customers in Colusa, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties in the dark.

The next phase of shut-offs was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m., affecting people in Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Stanislaus counties.

UPDATE: Oct. 26, 5:45 p.m.: Power starts to go off in Marin County

The Marin County Sheriff's Office reported power was beginning to go off in parts of Marin County, starting with Novato at 5:20 p.m., despite no new outages shown on PG&E's live outage map.

PG&E officials updated the public during a press conference after announcing the planned shut-offs had been pushed back due to a shifting weather forecast (see more information below).

"Models still suggest the event will be very strong," said PG&E meteorologist Scott Strenfel. "All the conditions needed for significant fires will be present. In general, we're expecting the peak of the event to be overnight tonight into tomorrow morning.

"With the wind speeds that we are forecasting, we are likely to see significant damage to trees and subsequently to our infrastructure."

UPDATE: Oct. 26, 5:15 p.m.: Shut-offs pushed back

PG&E pushed back its scheduled power shut-offs for much of Northern California. The new estimated shut-off times are as follows:

PHASE ONE: 5 p.m. Saturday. Counties impacted: Amador, Butte, El Dorado, Glenn, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joaquin, Sierra, Shasta, Tehama, Yuba.

PHASE TWO: 6 p.m. Saturday. Counties impacted: Colusa, Marin, Mendocino (south), Napa, Solano, Sonoma, Yolo.

PHASE THREE: 8 p.m. Saturday. Counties impacted: Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus.

PHASE FOUR: 9 p.m. Saturday. Counties impacted: Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino (north), Siskiyou, Trinity.

PHASE FIVE: 12:01 a.m. Sunday. Counties impacted: Alpine, Calaveras, Mariposa, Tuolumne.

PHASE SIX: 9 p.m. Sunday. County impacted: Kern County.

The shut-offs were delayed due to shifts in the weather forecast. The utility said the planned outages may still be pushed back, or even moved up, depending on the weather.

Not every customer in the above counties will be impacted; PG&E reiterated that those who will have their power shut off have already been notified.

At 5 p.m., PG&E's outage map showed no new shut-offs anywhere in the Bay Area.

UPDATE: Oct. 26, 2:30 p.m.: 99 percent of Marin County will be affected by the outage

The Marin County Sheriff's Office said Saturday afternoon PG&E informed officials the scheduled power shut-off will affect 99 percent of the county.

The shut-off will last through the severe wind event expected to start Saturday night and last through Monday. Power may not be restored until several days after the wind event, so Marin County is warning residents to be prepared to go without power for as many as five days.

UPDATE: Oct. 26, 11:00 a.m.: Shut-offs confirmed, number of customers affected expands to 940,000

Three hours after an announcement was expected, PG&E confirmed it would initiate mass public safety power shut-offs over the weekend in response to a severe wind event beginning Saturday night.

In addition, the number of potentially impacted customers ballooned from 850,000 to 940,000. The estimated number of total people impacted rose from 2.5 million to 2.8 million.

The shut-offs will occur in the following six phases:

PHASE ONE: 2 p.m. on Saturday. Counties impacted: Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joaquin, Sierra, Siskiyou, Shasta, Tehama and Yuba.

PHASE TWO: 4 p.m. on Saturday. Counties impacted: Lake, Marin, Mendocino (south), Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo.

PHASE THREE: 5 p.m. Saturday. Counties impacted: Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Stanislaus.

PHASE FOUR: 5 p.m. on Saturday. Counties impacted: Alpine, Calaveras, Mariposa and Tuolumne.

PHASE FIVE: 5 p.m. on Saturday. Counties impacted: Humboldt, Mendocino (north) and Trinity.

PHASE SIX: 10 a.m. on Sunday. County impacted: Kern County.

PG&E stated that before restoring power, the utility must inspect its equipment for damage and make any necessary repairs, but won't be able to do this until the wind event is over.

The event is expect to last through Monday, and PG&E warns customers to prepare to an "extended outage of at least two days once the severe weather has passed."

UPDATE: Oct. 26, 8:30 a.m.: PG&E misses self-imposed deadline

On Friday, Pacific Gas and Electric said it would make a "final determination" on whether to initiate mass public safety power shut-offs by 8 a.m. Saturday morning.

That self-imposed deadline came and went, and PG&E still has yet to announce whether the Bay Area will experience outages over the weekend during a potentially severe wind event.

"Given the forecast ... and the historical nature of what can be anticipated, we are preparing for what is likely going to be a widespread safety shutoff across our service territory to combat the risk of a catastrophic wildfire," Sumeet Singh, PG&E vice president of asset and risk management, said Friday.

Singh gave a potential timeline for the weekend outages: The Northern Sierra Foothills will be affected first, with outages predicted for 3 p.m.; North Bay and the Mendocino areas at 5 p.m.; the Bay Area, coast and southern portion of the Sierra Foothills at 7 p.m.; Kern County will be shut off at 11 a.m. Sunday.

"The times here are subject to change," he said. "We continue to monitor the weather forecast; if things move up, we potentially could move things up, and if we have the opportunity to further delay the de-energization — if we see one hour, two hours or multiple hours delay of the forecast of the impacted area — that’s exactly what we’re going to do."

The potential outages could affect 825,000 PG&E customers, which equates to roughly 2.5 million people. PG&E listed 36 counties that could see power shut-offs, and individuals should prepare to be without power for a while.

"Customers should prepare for a shutoff lasting 48 hours or longer, given the long duration of the wind event," the utility said in a statement.

Click here for a full list of California cities that may lose power over the weekend.

Additionally, click here for previous updates on PG&E from earlier the week.

FULL PG&E SHUTOFF COVERAGE:

- Here's when PG&E plans to restore power, based on location

- Tuesday wind event will trigger another round of power shut-offs

- Stuck in the dark? Here’s where to find power in the Bay Area during the PG&E outage

- How do I know when PG&E is shutting off my power?

- Here’s why PG&E doesn’t put more power lines underground

SFGate staffers Amy Graff and Chris Preovolos contributed to this report.

Eric Ting is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting