Due to an expected severe wind event anticipated to occur
around 10 pm Saturday night, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) notified the
county this afternoon that it will de-energize some power lines in Humboldt
County as part of the utility’s Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) program. At this time, PG&E expects that 2,188
customer connections in Humboldt County will be affected. Electricity is expected to be turned off for
those PG&E customers Saturday evening, possibly several hours before the
wind increases.
This PSPS event is expected to last longer than the roughly
24-hour event earlier this month, which means residents who are affected may have
electricity shut off for a longer period of time. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office of
Emergency Services (Sheriff’s OES) will provide updated information from the
utility as it becomes available. The
length of the outage and estimated time of restoral is entirely up to PG&E.
For information about PSPS or to sign up
for alerts, go to www.prepareforpowerdown.com or call 1-877-9000-PGE.
PG&E expects to issue maps later today that show the
anticipated affected areas. The Humboldt
County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services (Sheriff’s OES) will provide
those maps and any information regarding affected areas as it becomes available. If the shutoff is isolated in Humboldt
County, or includes distribution lines in our area, ground inspection may take
longer than the aerial inspection completed after the Oct. 9th shutoff before restoration can begin.
The overall PSPS is expected to affect 32 California
counties and approximately 640,000 customer connections. As conditions may continue to change and the
scope of this event may be expanded, the county recommends that all county
residents be prepared for an extended power outage beginning Saturday night.
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For the most recent information, follow
Sheriff’s OES on facebook. facebook.com/HumboldtCountyOES
You can also follow PG&E’s social media accounts for the
latest information from the utility.