Power was restored Sunday morning to the bulk of the 130,000 homes and businesses in San Francisco impacted by a massive outage a day earlier that caused major disruptions in the city.<\/b>
\nPower was restored Sunday morning to the bulk of the 130,000 homes and businesses in San Francisco impacted by a massive outage a day earlier that caused major disruptions in the city.
The Pacific Gas and Electric Co.\u2019s outage map showed more than 16,000 customers remained without power as of 12 p.m. PST. PG&E said earlier its crews were working Sunday to restore electricity in several neighborhoods and small areas of downtown San Francisco following Saturday\u2019s outage.
PG&E said it could not provide a precise timeframe for when the power would be fully restored.
\u201cThe damage from the fire in our substation was significant and extensive, and the repairs and safe restoration will be complex,\u201d the utility said, referring to the substation at 8th and Mission streets. That fire has been blamed for some of the blackouts. The outage remains under investigation.
PG&E said it has mobilized additional engineers and electricians to help with restoration efforts.
\u201cThis is a very complex work plan and will require the highest amount of safety focus to ensure safe work actions,\u201d PG&E said. No injuries have been reported.
The outage, which occurred shortly after 1 p.m. on Saturday, left a large swath of the northern part of the city without power that began to grow in size. At its peak, the outage represented roughly one-third of the utility company\u2019s customers in the city.
At about 4 p.m. on Saturday, PG&E posted on X that it had stabilized the grid and no further outages were expected.
Social media posts and local media reported mass closures of restaurants and shops and darkened street lights and Christmas decorations on Saturday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said on X there were \u201csignificant transit disruptions\u201d happening citywide and urged residents to avoid nonessential travel and treat down traffic signals as four-way stops. Waymo, the operator of driverless ride-hailing vehicles, suspended its services. At least one video posted on social media appeared to show a Waymo vehicle stopped in the middle of an intersection.<\/p>\n