More than 34,000 homes and businesses remain without power across PG&E Corp.’s service area after a weekend outage due in part to dry and windy conditions that raised the risk of wild fires.
There were 659 outages impacting 34,322 customers as of 7:37 a.m. local time, down from 779 blackouts cutting power to nearly 57,500 homes and businesses late Sunday, the utility said on its website. The overall number of outages includes those that are planned to limit the risk of wildfires and unplanned disruptions.
Dry wind gusts of up to 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour risk toppling power lines and other equipment that could spark blazes. The U.S. National Weather Service has issued a raft of red flag fire warnings across northern and central California, meaning critical fire weather conditions are either present or imminent.
Related: California Utility Bills Are 20% Higher Due to Wildfires
The electricity outages follow an earlier warning from PG&E of possible so-called proactive power cuts—which can range from 18 hours to several days—due to heightened fire threats. Those measures are possible across 15 counties from Sunday through Monday, according to PG&E.
Top photo: A PG&E truck parked on Jerseydale Road during the Oak Fire in Mariposa County, California, on Sunday, July 24, 2022. Bloomberg.
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