No Timetable for Restored Power in Hard-Hit Santa Cruz County

Gusty winds in the Bay Area overnight have left tens of thousands without power, including 22,670 in Santa Cruz County, the hardest hit area.

“Santa Cruz County got a lot of very strong winds and with all of the vegetation in the area, it was the hardest hit area in our service area,” PG&E spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian told Patch. “As hard as we work year around doing vegetation management, it is just a very lush area.”

Sarkissian said PG&E spends $180 million a year in vegetation management to prevent outages from happening due to wind and storms but sometimes it is beyond PG&E’s control.

Along with all of the outages in the county, pge.com estimates as many as 550 customers without power in Capitola and Soquel. Sarkissian said it is still too early to say when customers can expect the power back on.

“We are working very hard and are using all our resources. It is all hands on deck,” she said. “All our crews are working as quickly and as safely as possible.”

Other agencies are also responding to the windy conditions, including CAL FIRE, which according to an official statement, "increased staffing on fire engines, hand crews and bulldozers," as high winds greatly increase fire danger. In Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties alone on Wednesday afternoon and evening, CAL FIRE successfully responded to 25 weather-related incidents. 

Santa Cruz CHP responded to 90 weather-related traffic hazards in that time period, and as of Thursday morning, a CHP statement said they had already received over 50 wind-related calls. 

"Be sure to give driving 100 percent of your attention," Santa Cruz CHP Captain Matt Olson said. "If you are making the mistake of driving while distracted or speeding and a tree or debris falls in front of your vehicle, you won’t be able to react and avoid a collision.”

Customers can either report an outage or get automated outage information by calling 1-800-743-5002. To report a downed power line, call 1-800-743-5000.