14K In East Bay Lost Power In Wind-Related Outages, PG&E Says

EAST BAY, CA — Nearly 14,000 East Bay Pacific Gas & Electric Co. customers were in the dark at one point Tuesday morning as strong, gusty winds blew across California.

In all, more than 50,000 Bay Area PG&E customers were affected at 9 a.m., said spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian in an email. About 17,500 of those customers were still without power by 5 p.m., including 3,700 in the East Bay.

PG&E had been preparing for the windstorm, readying staff and relying on storm prediction models and automated technology that regulates the electric grid and tracks outages, Sarkissian said.

"These stormy conditions might cause trees, limbs and other debris to fall into power lines, damage equipment and interrupt electric service," she wrote.

The South Bay was hit hardest. Nearly 25,900 lost power there Tuesday morning, while outages affected another 7,700 on the Peninsula, 2,500 in the North Bay and 1,200 in San Francisco.

Another 24,000 were without power in Santa Cruz County, where residents were evacuated as firefighters battled blazes across the county.

The National Weather Service forecast winds would die down Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday's conditions were also dry.

The weather prompted PG&E to shut off power to 5,200 across seven counties in Central California in an attempt to avoid a possible equipment-sparked wildfire.

NWS did not issue a red flag warning in the Bay Area. PG&E did not anticipate enacting a public safety power shutoff here.