3K Still Without Power In Contra Costa County Thursday

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA — Some 37,000 PG&E customers, including 4,495 in the East Bay, were still without power Thursday in storm-related outages that began Tuesday.

PG&E has thus far identified damage to 217 power poles and 157 transformers from the atmospheric river-driven storm that brought heavy rain and gusty winds early this week to an already saturated Bay Area.

As of Thursday morning, PG&E restored service to 68,696 customers in Contra Costa County with another 3,541 still out of service and 83 separate outages that required resolution.

The numbers improved and by noon Thursday in Walnut Creek, there were 58 customers without power in Walnut Heights, 141 without power in the La Casa Via Area near Shell Ridge, 77 along Newell Hill Place, and 150 in the Rossmoor area.

In Concord, there were 144 customers without power near Olivera Road.

There were 33 customers without power in the Via Roble Area of Lafayette and 132 impacted by an outage in Alhambra Valley.

Pleasant Hill still had at least two outages affecting 400 customers, and an outage was impacting more than 500 customers near San Ramon.

"Based on today's completed assessments, it is projected that approximately 98 percent of the original customers impacted will be energized by the end of today," PG&E said. "Urban and suburban areas are generally energized faster due to more power routing options."

Contra Costa County was among the six highest-impacted counties in PG&E's service area during this week's storm. Wednesday morning, there were 22,965 customers without power in Contra Costa County.

'Most Impactful Storm Since 1995'

According to PG&E, this has been the most impactful storm the utility company has seen, in terms of customers out in the Bay Area, since 1995. It is the 13th storm event in the past 75 days. It is highly unusual to have so many storms in quick succession.

According to PG&E:

• We've experienced some of the highest levels of rainfall in California’s history.
• The Sierra snowpack is at its highest levels since the 1980s at more than 200 percent of the average.
• We have seen catastrophic flooding, mudslides and more.
• As a result, many trees, weakened by drought and in saturated soil, fell onto power lines toppled by high winds.
• Five weather stations recorded tornado-force winds with gusts up to 97 miles per hour in Alameda, Marin, Amador and Santa Clara counties.

"Throughout Northern and Central California, more than 5,500 contract and mutual aid personnel are currently dedicated to storm response with more on the way, so we can get services restored safely and as quickly as possible," PG&E said.

Twelve mutual aid crews are partnering with PG&E on this post-storm recovery event:

• 68 full-time employees from Southern California Edison
• 6 full-time employees from Modesto Irrigation District
• 7 full-time employees from The City of Roseville