How to resolve AdBlock issue? PG&E said the all clear means winds subsided to safe levels, clearing the way for crews to begin safety inspections of deenergized equipment, repair any wind damage and, ultimately, restore power to hundreds of thousands of customer accounts across the region, including all of those in Lake County.
Kern County is expected to be all clear for inspections on Thursday morning, given continued significant wind activity in the southern part of PG&E’s service area.
Sheriff Brian Martin told Lake County News Wednesday afternoon that PG&E had reported that it expected to have power restored to 80 percent of Lake County’s 37,441 customer accounts by sundown on Wednesday.
The remaining 20 percent will be in spots around the county, not entire neighborhoods, Martin said.
PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras separately confirmed that power restoration time estimate.
She added that power lines in the Kincade fire area in south Lake County are not expected to be reenergized at this time.
As of 2:20 p.m., Contreras did not have numbers on how many Lake County customer accounts, if any, had been restored.
Martin said Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman reported that power was on in Ukiah by Wednesday afternoon.
County officials said that that PG&E issued the all clear for Lake County at 5:22 a.m., and that PG&E had inspected some of the transmission lines impacting Lake County on Tuesday night.
A major transmission line, running from Williams through the town of Mendocino, was being patrolled on Wednesday morning. Lake County officials said that, once that line is cleared it will make significant restoration more possible. That line was reported to be a high priority for PG&E.
PG&E said more than 6,300 personnel and 46 helicopters are working on safety patrols and equipment repairs, which take place largely during daylight hours. The company has secured mutual assistance of approximately 1,100 electric workers from other utilities to help with inspections and repairs.
Lake County has 715.1 lines of electrical distribution line and 201 miles of transmission line, according to PG&E.
The company has previously said its goal is to restore powers to areas within 48 hours of the all clear, but that time can vary due to the extent of damage discovered.
Inspection work continues for two shutoff events
PG&E said inspection and restoration work was continuing on Wednesday for customers impacted by the larger public safety power shutoff that began Saturday.
That weekend shutoff impacted 973,000 customer accounts in portions of 38 counties, including all of Lake.
The shutoff event that began on Tuesday impacted 516,000 customer accounts in portions of 22 counties, with Lake County once again included. In the Tuesday event, 400,000 customers from the previous shutoff also were impacted.
From these two most recent shutoff events, approximately 365,000 customers remained out of power while 723,000 customers had been restored as of 10 a.m. Wednesday, PG&E said.
Local officials told Lake County News that only about 7 percent of Lake County’s 37,441 customer accounts had power restored early Tuesday, primarily in the Clearlake area, before power was cut once again.
The ongoing outages caused Sheriff Martin on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency, as Lake County News has reported.
The Board of Supervisors is expected to ratify that emergency proclamation at a special meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday. The board will meet jointly at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport with the city councils of Clearlake and Lakeport.
For the Tuesday shutoff, PG&E said the number of impacted counties decreased from original estimates, as weather conditions changed and as the company was able to sectionalize parts of its grid to allow for greater precision in the shutoffs.
Counties that were removed from the shutoff scope were Alameda, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Siskiyou, PG&E said.
PG&E said it will continue to operate community resource centers for affected customers, providing restrooms, bottled water, ice, blankets, food, electronic-device charging and air-conditioned seating for up to 100.
Centers will remain open during daylight hours, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., until power has been restored in those areas.
In Lake County, there are four community resource centers: Clearlake Senior Community Center, 3245 Bowers Ave.; Konocti Vista Casino, 2755 Mission Rancheria Road, Lakeport; Upper Lake Unified School District, 725 Old Lucerne Road; and a center reopened on Wednesday morning at Twin Pine Casino & Hotel, 22223 Highway 29, Middletown.
PG&E had reported that it planned to distribute blankets at centers on Wednesday due to cold conditions.
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