Half Moon Bay Expected To Be Impacted By Another PG&E Outage

HALF MOON BAY, CA — As the lights come back on for some across the Bay Area, they are expected to go dark yet again for many. Here in the Half Moon Bay area, county officials say more outages are planned for Tuesday.

The City of Half Moon Bay shared the following message Monday afternoon:

The latest information from PG&E is that an additional PSPS event is expected to begin starting early [Tuesday] morning, Tuesday, October 29. The latest maps from PG&E show that the Coastside will be affected from Montara south to Santa Cruz. This new event is expected to begin early [Tuesday] morning and last through Wednesday morning at which point inspection and re-energization will begin, which could take 24-48 hours. The City acknowledges and shares the community's frustrations with these PSPS events and appreciates everyone's patience and cooperation as we navigate through these events together.

Regarding the current PSPS event, PG&E is currently inspecting lines and hopes to restore power for those affected as soon as possible. There are reports of power returning in various parts of the coast. Dependent on any damage to equipment, full restoration may take 24-48 hours.

The Sheriff's Department will be on hand to assist with traffic movement during peak times along Highway 1 for any signals not yet functioning. Even with traffic control, delays can be expected. If it is at all possible to avoid being on the roads during rush hour, please do so.

The City's Resource Center (Adcock Community Center, 535 Kelly Avenue) will remain operational during the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. until power is fully restored in Half Moon Bay.

Recreation programming for Tuesday, October 29 and Wednesday, October 30 has been cancelled.

The Joint City Council / Planning Commission Study Session scheduled for tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. at the Adcock Community Center will take place as scheduled.

City of Half Moon Bay Public Works Maintenance staff will be working through the duration of the PSPS event to monitor the safety and status of the City's infrastructure.

During the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., questions concerning the City's operations and impacts of the power shutoff may be directed to two phone numbers: 650-477-4900 (English), or 650-477-4963 (English/Spanish).

Please be aware of the following impacts to the Half Moon Bay community if/when power is shut off:

• The Half Moon Bay Library will be open during daylight hours with limited operations. For the latest library news, please visit smcl.org, or Half Moon Bay Library's social media platforms.
• Signalized intersections may not be fully operational during the shutdown. These intersections should be treated as four-way stops, whether flashing red or not lit at all.
• For emergencies, please dial 911. For non-emergency dispatch, please call (650) 726-8286.
• Sewer Authority Mid-Coastside will continue operations with backup generators.
• Coastside County Water District does not expect a disruption of service.
• The City is not activating or recruiting any volunteers at this point.

The warning comes as PG&E reports that of the 940,000 customers whose power was cut during the weekend Public Safety Power Shutoff, only 325,000 had their power restored by Monday evening.

Approximately 605,000 customers are expected to be affected by Tuesday's PSPS, according to the utility company. Portions of the following 29 counties are currently expected to be impacted: Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba.

"As of Monday afternoon, PG&E estimates the Oct. 29 PSPS in San Mateo County could impact 13,000 service addresses which roughly translates to 39,000 customers," the city of South San Francisco said. "Residents can learn if their address will be impacted by visiting https://psps.ss.pge.com"

Tuesday's event is expected to again be rolled out in phases, starting in the morning.

PG&E meteorologist Scott Strenfel said compared with Sunday's event, winds in Tuesday's event will be weaker but the fuels will be dryer.

"This will be a very high risk event," he said.

Multiple Red Flag Warnings have been issued covering a vast portion of the Bay Area. That area has about 2 million PG&E customers in it.

Strenfel said there is some good news. After Wednesday, weather models do not show another inclement wind event at least through the first week of November.

"Still no rain in the forecast," he said, "but it appears we are going to be entering a more quiescent weather pattern."

Keith Stephens, a spokesperson for PG&E, brought some bad news. He said a contractor working for the utility died Friday night when his vehicle went over a large elevated area in Humboldt County.

— Bay City News Service contributed to this report