{"id":55430,"date":"2020-10-25T18:53:39","date_gmt":"2020-10-25T23:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=55430"},"modified":"2020-10-25T18:53:39","modified_gmt":"2020-10-25T23:53:39","slug":"california-begins-cutting-power-to-361000-customers-as-fire-risk-surges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=55430","title":{"rendered":"California Begins Cutting Power To 361,000 Customers As Fire Risk Surges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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California Begins Cutting Power To 361,000 Customers As Fire Risk Surges<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Facing bone-crushing dryness and the strongest winds of the wildfire season, California’s largest utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) which filed for historic bankruptcy due to its role in previous infernos sweeping across the state has\u00a0“de-energized certain electrical lines”\u00a0<\/strong>in\u00a0Northern California, which may result in what could be the largest mass blackout of the year.<\/p>\n

PG&E released a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0Sunday morning, informing customers that 361,000 homes and or businesses were part of the blackout, affecting 36 counties, mainly in\u00a0Northern California, starting at 10:00 PST.\u00a0Listed below are the counties affected by the planned blackouts:<\/p>\n

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PG&E’s initial projection of homes and businesses that would lose power on Sunday is down\u00a0105k from Friday’s 466k estimate<\/a>. The power company’s primary reason to de-energize some of its power lines is that high winds are expected on Sunday, increasing the risk for trees and or limbs to fly into powerlines and\u00a0potentially ignite fires in regions of low humidity and dry vegetation.<\/p>\n

“This event looks particularly dangerous due to a combination of factors that we continue to track,” said Scott Strenfel, PG&E’s head of meteorology and fire science, who was quoted by\u00a0Bloomberg<\/a>. Strong winds and low humidity were expected throughout the day on Sunday, he said.<\/p>\n

The next round of blackouts, expected imminently, will be a\u00a0devastating blow for the state, already battered by extreme weather this fire season, scorching more than 4 million acres so far. PG&E has preemptively cut power four times this season.<\/p>\n

High wind gusts are expected for some regions in\u00a0Northern California through Monday,\u00a0tweeted The National Weather Service (NWS) Sacramento.<\/p>\n