A pair of significant winter storm events with gusty south winds, widespread rain will impact our area and Northern California Saturday, Sunday and into Monday. PG&E is preparing for significant outage activity for these upcoming events. Additional crews are being staged in advance of the storm to respond as quickly as possible to safely restore power. Below are important safety and storm preparedness messages:

Outage information

 Customers can get updates on outages in their neighborhood through a variety of channels.

• Check on outages in their areas and sign up for alerts via text, email or phone call for power restoration updates: https://m.pge.com/#outages
• 
  
  • Contact our outage information line at 1-800-743-5002
  • Log-in to their account through pge.com and sign up to receive proactive outage alerts through email, text or phone

Safety

• These wet and windy conditions have caused trees, limbs and other debris to fall into power lines, damage equipment and interrupt electric service.
• Due to continued saturated soils and the potential for tree failures, additional residual outage activity is likely.
• If you are clearing debris, mud or dirt, or you are doing work anywhere that the earth might have moved during the storms, please contact 811 (toll free) before digging or moving dirt, so that PG&E can send out someone to mark utility lines in your area.
• PG&E reminds customers to keep a safe distance from PG&E crews responding to outages in their neighborhoods. Public safety is our top priority.
• During an outage, use battery-operated flashlights, and not candles, due to the risk of fire. If you must use candles, keep them away from drapes, lampshades, holiday trees and small children. Do not leave candles unattended.
• If your power goes out, unplug or turn off all electric appliances to avoid overloading circuits and fire hazards when power is restored. Simply leave a single lamp on to alert you when power returns. Turn your appliances back on one at a time when conditions return to normal.
• Street lights: At night, the streets will be much darker than usual and will look different. Follow all posted speed limits – or drive a bit slower. Use turn signals when changing lanes and especially at corners with crosswalks.
• Traffic Signals: If traffic signals are out or flashing red, come to a full stop at every intersection, and proceed as you would at a four-way stop.
• Children and pedestrians: When driving, watch for children and pedestrians crossing streets in or out of the crosswalk. They may be wearing dark clothing and be difficult to see. If you are walking at night, take a flashlight with you and wear light-colored or light-reflective clothing.
• If you have a generator, inform PG&E and do not use it unless it is installed safely and properly. If it is not, you risk damaging your property and endangering yourself and PG&E line workers who may be working on nearby power lines. Information on the safe installation of generators can be found on our website at pge.com/generator.

Downed Powerline Safety Tips 

PG&E reminds customers to stay safe, and to stay away from downed power lines.

• Treat all low hanging and downed power lines as if they are energized and extremely dangerous. Keep yourself and others away from them. Be aware of trees, pools of water and other objects that may be in contact with power lines. If you see damaged power lines and electric equipment, call 911, and then notify PG&E at 1-800-743-5002.

If your vehicle comes in contact with a downed power line:

• Stay inside! The safest place is in your car. The ground around your car may be energized.
• Honk the horn, roll down your window and yell for help.
• Warn others to stay away. Anyone who touches the equipment or ground around the vehicle may be injured.
• Use your mobile phone to call 911.
• Fire department, police and PG&E workers will tell you when it is safe to get out of the vehicle.

If there is a fire and you have to exit a vehicle that has come in contact with downed power lines:

• Remove loose items of clothing.
• Keep your hands at your sides and jump clear of the vehicle, so you are not touching the car when your feet hit the ground.
• Keep both feet close together and shuffle away from the vehicle without picking up your feet.

Customer Storm Preparedness Tips

• PG&E encourages customers to have a plan, prepare for power outages and above all else, stay safe.
• Have flashlights, radios and fresh batteries ready, and know where to go for updates on storm conditions and power outages.
• If you have a telephone system that requires electricity to work, such as a cordless phone or answering machine, plan to have a standard telephone or cellular phone ready as a backup.
• Have fresh drinking water, freeze plastic containers filled with water to make blocks of ice that can be placed in your refrigerator/freezer during an outage to prevent foods from spoiling. Blue Ice from your picnic cooler also works well in the freezer.
• Secure outdoor furniture, lightweight yard structures and decorative lawn items that can be blown by high winds to prevent them from damaging overhead power lines and property.
• If you have a stand-by generator, make sure that it’s installed safely and inform PG&E to avoid risking damage to your property and endangering PG&E workers. Information on the safe installation of generators can be found on our website at www.pge.com/generator.

811 Customer Reminders

• As customers remove storm debris from their property, PG&E reminds customers to make the free call to 811 before doing any digging around their property, regardless of the project’s size.
• Dig-ins can cause damage to underground gas, electric, telecommunications and other infrastructure and are one of the most serious threats to public safety.
• Calling 811 can prevent dig-in accidents such as hitting and damaging utility lines and pipes.