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PG&E may cut power to 30 counties in NorCal for 'severe wind event, Alerts sent out at 4am for tomorrow

Fleck0

Fleck0

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,447
Curler said:
Ouch. I used to live in a crappy grid area, and would get outages like at least once a month and it sucked. Now, I get one like maybe once every 2 years or so. So yeah, I get how much it sucks being on a bad grid :/
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It's kind of odd I've been in my apartment for 8 years and maybe had 2-3 outages. Since last July (around when they started floating the idea of mass shut-offs) I've probably had 6. Probly unrelated infrastructure issues due to negligence, I'm not in a great part of SR either.
 
RandomExpletive

RandomExpletive

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,184
Sacramento
Hah, our house is literally bisected by the line on that google maps link, sadly the side that is in the affected area also happens to be the side with our meter.

Never thought I'd be glad to be doing 10 hour fieldwork shifts (assuming the station's we're working at aren't hit by the outage, literally not sure if we could work if that happens
 
16bits

16bits

Member
Apr 26, 2019
2,861
"Significant winds will be coming out of the northwest, blowing from inland areas toward the ocean. These are the gusty conditions that create critical fire weather. The north to northeast winds, often called Diablo winds, will be blowing 15 to 25 mph with isolated gusts up to 45 mph."


Significant winds are 15 mph?

Gusts up to 45mph?

isnt this just a normal, "windy day"?
 
zashga

zashga

Losing is fun
Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,189
PG&E sucks. How about investing in power lines that can withstand 20 mph winds, guys? We're not exactly talking about a hurricane here.
 
Dreamwriter

Dreamwriter

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,461
limerobot said:
isnt this just a normal, "windy day"?
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THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA HAS ISSUED A

FIRE WEATHER WATCH, WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TUESDAY NIGHT

THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON.



* AFFECTED AREA...FIRE WEATHER ZONES 507 AND 511...THE NORTH AND

EAST BAY HILLS ABOVE 1000 FEET.



* WIND...NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS OF 35 TO

45 MPH. LOCALLY HIGHER GUSTS ARE LIKELY ACROSS HIGHER RIDGES

AND PEAKS.



* HUMIDITY...DAYTIME MINIMUM RELATIVE HUMIDITY IN THE TEENS AND

AS LOW AS THE SINGLE DIGITS BY THURSDAY. VERY POOR OVERNIGHT

HUMIDITY RECOVERIES...ONLY TO 20 TO 30 PERCENT WEDNESDAY NIGHT.



* HIGHEST THREAT...ALL PORTIONS OF THE NORTH AND EAST BAY HILLS

WILL LIKELY EXPERIENCE CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS. AREAS

OF GREATEST CONCERN MAY BE REFINED AS THE EVENT DRAWS CLOSER.

THE TIME PERIOD OF GREATEST CONCERN IS LATE WEDNESDAY THROUGH

EARLY THURSDAY.



* IMPACTS...ANY FIRES THAT DEVELOP WILL LIKELY SPREAD RAPIDLY.

OUTDOOR BURNING IS NOT RECOMMENDED.



PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...



A FIRE WEATHER WATCH MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS

ARE FORECAST TO OCCUR. LISTEN FOR LATER FORECASTS AND POSSIBLE

RED FLAG WARNINGS.
 
Curler

Curler

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,586
If you check that SFGate map, it looks like things are slowly working its way downward. Most stuff north of the peninsula is down, so it hasn't reached Oakland/Bekeley/further south yet.
 
Zulith

Zulith

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,737
West Coast, USA
I didn't hear anything about the 8am thing. I think the Berkeley area will be impacted around noon based on the latest info I was able to find.

Nearly 150k people already without power in the bay area alone:

Over 800k could be impacted as the rollout continues, possibly millions:

Here is one place you can track the outage progress:

Still not sure if my home will be impacted. On some of the impacted areas maps I saw, my home is outside of the area. On others, it is inside. Trying my best to be prepared by noon.
 
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Squarehard

Squarehard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
25,821
Currently 186k is the number as reported on local news channels.

Next roll outs are around noon when the wind starts to drop down into the East Bay areas.
 
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Squarehard

Squarehard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
25,821
For those who are planning to use Bart soon, there are massive delays on Bart, as expected, so plan your trips accordingly.
 
TheExecutive

TheExecutive

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
892
I live in Colorado but even this has me pissed. PG&E shouldn't be allowed to cut power off because of their shitty infrastructure. Power is critical for many folks that have medical issues etc... If they cannot get their shit together without threatening lives either way they should be held accountable for that. I mean their response is basically, "you can have fires that kill 85 people because of us OR fuck the infirmed and elderly because of us".
 
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Squarehard

Squarehard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
25,821
TheExecutive said:
I live in Colorado but even this has me pissed. PG&E shouldn't be allowed to cut power off because of their shitty infrastructure. Power is critical for many folks that have medical issues etc... If they cannot get their shit together without threatening lives either way they should be held accountable for that. I mean their response is basically, "you can have fires that kill 85 people because of us OR fuck the infirmed and elderly because of us".
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The hard part of the state, is that they basically have to comply, because if PG&E goes down, they're probably going to partly help out with bailing them out too, so it's a lose-lose for them, which blows, and PG&E knows that.
 
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Squarehard

Squarehard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
25,821
Zulith said:
I'd like to know where this bad weather is. Currently 4mph wind in Berkeley and the shutdown here starts in 3 hours.
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It's been in the North Bay, which is why the shutdown happened in those areas earlier.

It's moving it's way down into the East Bay, and expected to be down there later in the afternoon, which is why the shutdown is planned for noon, as the winds start to drop into the East Bay, then into the South Bay after, with their outages at a later time.
 
Fushichou187

Fushichou187

Member
Nov 1, 2017
3,308
Sonoma County, California.
Zulith said:
I'd like to know where this bad weather is. Currently 4mph wind in Berkeley and the shutdown here starts in 3 hours.
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It could totally be fine where you live tbh. However power to your area could be delivered by lines connected directly to an area that is high risk. So the way PGE built out their infrastructure means that if they cut power to the high risk area in order to prevent a fire starting, then yours is getting shutoff as well.
 
Curler

Curler

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,586
Fushichou187 said:
It could totally be fine where you live tbh. However power to your area could be delivered by lines connected directly to an area that is high risk. So the way PGE built out their infrastructure means that if they cut power to the high risk area in order to prevent a fire starting, then yours is getting shutoff as well.
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This is what happens when you try and save money as a company, and not try to use some spending to improve the system long-term. One article even referred to the fiasco as "treating us like a 3rd-world country", as in a lot of them understandably don't always have an updated infrustructure and can often have rolling blackouts.
 
sabertoothzombie

sabertoothzombie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,702


WIND UPDATE: Winds beginning to ramp up in the North bay mountains. At 2400 feet in the hills east of Healdsburg winds gusting to 32 mph. Winds will continue to increase through the day and peak overnight tonight
 
Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,885
Looks like it's no longer noon cut off for Alameda County but instead-"later this afternoon"
 
JilloftheJungle

JilloftheJungle

Member
Oct 27, 2017
360
Everyone at work is ready for the power to go as we are deep in the outage area in Bay Point. Power still on as of now....
 
sabertoothzombie

sabertoothzombie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,702
" Santa Clara County declares state of emergency: Officials announced they are filing a local state of emergency declaration because of the power shut-offs. A news conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. "
 
TJG662

TJG662

Member
Oct 25, 2017
624
California
I live in one of the few county's that's not affected. I feel left out. Sutter county is kinda set up where we dont have much a a fire risk.
 
sabertoothzombie

sabertoothzombie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,702
" Shut-offs delayed by change in weather: PG&E said power shut-offs will begin this afternoon and into the early evening in the following counties: Alameda, Alpine, Contra Costa, Mariposa, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne. PG&E originally said these counties would lose power around noon. "
 
Fushichou187

Fushichou187

Member
Nov 1, 2017
3,308
Sonoma County, California.
sabertoothzombie said:
" Shut-offs delayed by change in weather: PG&E said power shut-offs will begin this afternoon and into the early evening in the following counties: Alameda, Alpine, Contra Costa, Mariposa, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne. PG&E originally said these counties would lose power around noon. "
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I get the need to react to the actual conditions and not prescriptively overreact, but these outages are pretty bullshit. PGE turned off the lights way before any real danger and also more importantly, without power, should a fire start entire communities would be in grave danger as their water pumps etc won't work.

Silver lining to this happening right now: It's also Yom Kippur apparently so my partner is fucking ravenous. And because we can't open the fridge in order to preserve its temp, we're looking at places on the other side of the city that have power to break the fast later. This means breweries 😁😁😁
 
sabertoothzombie

sabertoothzombie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,702
Contra Costa County and Alameda County said their shutdown delayed until 8 pm

Morgan Hill is having a curfew in place now

I really want to know what this state of emergency declaration for Santa Clara county is about, please let it be a delay or just "no shutdown, but we're monitoring". Doubt it though
 
Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,885
From Alameda Country Sheriff Office Facebook page:



Alameda County Sheriff's Office
13 mins ·
Important #PSPS update for Alameda County. The power shut off for our county has been delayed for several hours. It will now begin at 8pm. Strong winds are expected to begin about 10pm. Power restoration for Alameda County will begin on 10/10 about 12pm. Info subject to change.
 
sabertoothzombie

sabertoothzombie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,702
" PG&E sets up barricade at SF office: Company officials set up an L-shaped barricade in front of its San Francisco headquarters on Beale Street. Company spokeswoman Ari Vanrenen said the barricade is a precaution for "the safety of our employees." She added, "We have received feedback from frustrated customers."

Reminder, please don't blame all the employees, and just let the workers finish their inspections.

And now an investigation into a report of shots fired at employees on the highway
 
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Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,885
sabertoothzombie said:
" PG&E sets up barricade at SF office: Company officials set up an L-shaped barricade in front of its San Francisco headquarters on Beale Street. Company spokeswoman Ari Vanrenen said the barricade is a precaution for "the safety of our employees." She added, "We have received feedback from frustrated customers."

Reminder, please don't blame all the employees, and just let the workers finish their inspections.

And now an investigation into a report of shots fired at employees on the highway
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Whoa-where do you see this?
 
Fushichou187

Fushichou187

Member
Nov 1, 2017
3,308
Sonoma County, California.
sabertoothzombie said:
Reminder, please don't blame all the employees, and just let the workers finish their inspections.

And now an investigation into a report of shots fired at employees on the highway
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Yeah don't fuck with the techs out there inspecting the lines. The power won't go back on until they get checked.

However those in the Bay Area want to protest and rally in front of PGE's corporate HQ? Have at it.
 
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