PG&E holds power shutoff notification until Wednesday

PG&E officials Monday evening said they have not decided yet to turn off power to 209,000 customers in Northern California because of inclement weather forecasted for Wednesday and Thursday.

PG&E expects to tell customers in Napa and Sonoma counties Wednesday morning whether they will lose power. Power would start going off at about 2 p.m. before the winds start picking up at 5 p.m. with the current weather forecast.

Customers in a small area of San Mateo County can expect their power to go off at about 1 a.m. if PG&E powers down in that area.

Models developed by PG&E meteorological and operations teams’ show wind gusts may exceed 55 mph late Wednesday evening through Thursday afternoon for portions of the Sierra Foothills.

Winds between 35 and 45 mph with some 55 mph gusts in localized areas are forecast for Sonoma and Napa counties.

That forecast calls for the wind event to end at noon Thursday, PG&E officials said.

PG&E President and CEO William Johnson said the company has set up a sister website where customers can determine whether their power will be shut off. That website is at https://psps.ss.pge.com/.

An outage map will be available to city and county leaders.

Johnson said PG&E is shutting off power for safety. He said in high winds power lines may fall sparking a fire and high winds may cause that fire to spread rapidly.

Customers were notified by text and automated phone calls Monday afternoon, and PG&E said an employee will knock on the doors of customers with medical issues who are enrolled in the Medical Baseline program.

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