'Furious': 1.5 million Californians will have their power turned off Tuesday
Around 1.5 million people will be in the darkness Tuesday in another California public safety power shutoff -- some of them for five days or more.
Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. said its latest blackout will start early Tuesday and affect 605,000 homes and businesses in 29 Northern California counties. The announcement came even before the last blackout had ended, which cut off power to more than 2.5 million people. It wasn't clear if the power that for many went out Saturday would be restored before the next round of outages.
The bankrupt utility is conducting the shutoffs after the state said downed or damaged power lines caused wildfires the last two years.
A wildfire-ravaged home burns as crews continue to battle the Getty fire Monday, Oct. 28, 2019, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
PG&E said in a statement that it had restored power to 57% of customers who had been impacted by the most recent shutoff.
"The sole intent of a PSPS is to prevent a catastrophic wildfire sparked by electrical equipment during extreme weather events," the company said.
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"PG&E can't figure out how to deliver power reliably without killing people," Petaluma resident Scotty Richardson said. "This is more than three strikes — it's a failure of epic proportions."
Richardson said he was "furious, furious."
"It's so obvious it's just to protect them from more liability," Janet Luoma of Santa Rosa said at a Red Cross evacuation shelter.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCG | PG&E CORP. | 21.64 | +0.04 | +0.16% |
PG&E said a transmission tower last week may have ignited the Kincade fire in Sonoma County, where 200,000 people have had to evacuate.
One couple from Chicago, though, still had their destination wedding in Northern California's wine country, despite many of their vendors evacuating the area. The pair took a dramatic photo wearing masks.
Katie and Curtis Ferland are married at the Chateau St. Jean vineyard in Sonoma County, California. (Karna Roa/KMR Photography)
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While Northern California has been hit hard, Southern California is also being affected by fires. Southern California Edison had cut off power to about 800 people as of Monday night and warned that it was considering disconnecting about 400,000 more as winds return midweek. The company, like PG&E, also faced a growing backlash from regulators and lawmakers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.