Thousands Without Power In Danville Wednesday, Including 10 Schools

DANVILLE, CA - Over 2300 customers were still without power Wednesday evening in Danville after more than 24 hours. The largest outages were centered on either side of 680 in Alamo, around Osage Park, and just south of Mt. Diablo State Park. PG&E estimated a power restoration of 7 p.m. Wednesday.

During the peak of the storm mid-day Tuesday, 300,00 customers across the Bay Area lost power. Over 160,000 PG&E customers are still without power mid-morning Wednesday, according to several reports.

City spokesperson Jenn Starnes told Patch that despite heavy winds, the town did not receive as many calls as its neighbors did. Downed power lines were reported on Green Valley Road between Blemer Road and Valle Verde Court and Camino Tassajara between Old Valley Road and Sycamore Valley Drive. All roads were reopened as of Wednesday evening, and any debris in the public right-of-way will be removed by the end of the week, Starnes said. Additional cleanup will continue into next week.

“While the power outage definitely was widespread, we luckily did not have any major issues on public property, and did not really have a lot of calls,” Starnes wrote in an email. “We worked closely with the school district to re-route buses in the Green Valley Road area, and while there may have been more trees down or damage on private property, we are only aware of one tree that came down into private property.”

Ryan Mahoney of the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District told Patch that the department received 50 calls in five hours related to the wind starting at 11:24 a.m. Tuesday. “We mainly had power lines down, trees blocking roadways and trees falling onto a few structures,” he said.

Around 10 SRVUSD schools in Danville lost power at some point during Tuesday, and as of Wednesday morning, Rancho Romero Elementary School and Charlotte Wood Elementary School were still without power. School remained open during the outages (where power was restored fairly quickly, according to district spokesperson Ilana Samuels), and school remained open Wednesday, even at the schools without power. Samuels said the nutrition staff quickly brought food out of the refrigerators into the warehouse to make sure it did not spoil.

Doors and windows were open during the day, and the schools still had water. Anyone needing to reach the school in an emergency who finds that the phone does not work should call Debbie Gluchowski at 925-552-2914.

Trees fell in front of some SRVUSD schools, including John Baldwin Elementary School in Danville, causing some damage to buildings and fencing, but no injuries were reported, Samuels said.

Some of the most intense damage came in Livermore, where a tree crashed through an apartment building, damaged a water tower, and fell on almost every other block, as one resident reported. In Pleasanton, a tree fell on top of a portion of the Lighthouse Baptist Church, but no one was injured.

The town canceled all its programming Tuesday evening, including a Planning Commission meeting, and all classes and activities at the Danville Community Center, Senior Center, Oak Hill Park, and Hap Magee Ranch Park.

Residents are advised to report fallen trees by calling 925-314-3450 during business hours, or after-hours at 925-820-2144. Downed wires should be reported to PG&E at 800-743-5000.