50K In Bay Area Lose Power Tuesday Amid High Winds

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. customers in the Bay Area and beyond were without power Tuesday as powerful winds howled, toppling trees and power lines.

Some 50,000 were in the dark Tuesday morning during the peak of the wind gusts, while power was restored to all but 17,500 by 5 p.m., according to PG&E.

The situation was even more dire in Central California, where PG&E preemptively shut off power to 5,200 customers across seven counties as part of a public safety power shutoff, in an attempt to preemptively de-energize power lines that could knock over electrical equipment and spark wildfires. The winds shut down Yosemite National Park, as officials there anticipated damage to facilities and a need to clean up downed wires and debris.

The outages come amid dry weather and a high wind warning, which is set to expire 10 a.m. Tuesday. Hurricane-force winds have been reported in some mountainous areas, though people can generally expect gusts of 60 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Winds are expected to gradually subside throughout Tuedsay afternoon.

While the entire Bay Area region has been affected by these shutoffs, the South Bay and Santa Cruz County areas appear to have been hit particularly hard. More than two dozen outages in those areas are affecting pockets of 500 to 5,000 customers, according to PG&E's online outage tracker. The Santa Clara County Fire Department took the extra step of encouraging the public to stay off of the roads.

Cal Fire CZU, which covers San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, reported early Tuesday that it had battled 10 vegetation fires in 12 hours. Other Cal Fire units in the region had battled blazes of their own, according to Cal Fire CZU.

The public is encouraged to report downed power lines to 911 then PG&E at 1-800-743-5002. Act with caution, assuming any downed lines are energized.

See which areas are affected by outages here.