UPDATE, 4:32 p.m.: PG&E sent out what it calls its “final” update on today’s power woes. As of 4 p.m. today there are fewer than 4,000 Humboldt customers without power. An additional 1,100 customers around Leggett and Laytonville are also without power due to outages than began yesterday. 

“Restoration work will continue this evening,” PG&E states. “The winter storm caused multiple incidents of damage include a broken pole, a damaged transmission tower and downed wires.”

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Press release from Pacific Gas and Electric:

The safety of our customers, crews and communities is our most important responsibility.  PG&E crews are working safely and as quickly as possible to assess the transmission outage impacting approximately 67,000 customers in Humboldt County today, Friday, Jan. 17. 

As of 11:00 a.m., about 31,000 customers had been restored, leaving about 36,000 out of power.

PG&E has multiple transmission, distribution and substation crews working on the restoration. PG&E will be flying helicopters this morning to do aerial inspections of transmission lines.  At this time, we do not have an estimated time of restoration.

The Humboldt area has experienced severe weather conditions this week, including heavy snowfall. Snow is 6- to 7-feet deep in some locations, plus there is fog this morning.

Some crews are utilizing Sno-Cat to reach equipment in that needs to be repaired in difficult to access conditions.  As a result of these outages, CAISO has issued a Transmission Emergency notice for Northern California from 6 a.m. until midnight.

This is the lowest emergency level. It is declared for any event threatening or limiting transmission grid capability, including line or transformer overloads or loss. (The California Independent System Operator runs the grid in California.)

We appreciate the patience of our customers as we work to restore power.