PG&E Urges Customers to Be Prepared and Stay Safe During Strong Late Week Storm
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–While Spring may have sprung throughout much of Northern and Central
California, Mother Nature has at least one more winter storm in store
for our communities. PG&E is urging its customers and their families to
stay safe this week as a significant weather system works its way across
the region starting Thursday and into Friday. The most significant
impact is expected along the northern coast and in the Sierras.
“Many Californians were looking forward to breaking out our sun glasses
after a long winter, but we encourage everyone to have a plan for this
week’s late-season storm and to be prepared for outages that could occur
as a result of wet, windy weather conditions. We’re prepared to work
around the clock to restore service safely and as quickly as possible,”
said Pat Hogan, senior vice president, Electric Operations.
Spring Storm Safety Tips:
-
Never Touch Downed Wires: If you see a downed power line,
assume it is energized and extremely dangerous. Do not touch or try to
move it—and keep children and animals away. Report downed power lines
immediately by calling 911 and by calling PG&E at 1-800-743-5002. -
Stay Clear of Moving Water: The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention report that over half of all flood-related drownings occur
when a vehicle is driven into hazardous flood water. Just six inches
of fast-moving flood water can knock over an adult and only 12 inches
of rushing water can carry away a small car, according to the National
Weather Service. Don’t take the risk and stay safe. -
Be Aware of Tree Safety: Saturated soil means trees are more
vulnerable to falling due to high winds. Make sure your trees are
pruned before the storm to keep them from contacting with electric
wires. -
Resupply Emergency Kits: It has been a long winter filled with
weather emergencies. Please use this spring storm as a chance to do
some spring cleaning and update the supplies and materials in your emergency
kit. -
Safely Clean Up: After the storm has passed, be sure to safely
clean up. Never touch downed wires and always call 811 or visit 811express.com
at least two full business days before digging to have all underground
utilities safely marked.
Technology at Work for You
The integration of advanced communications and control technologies
throughout the electric grid continues to enhance the resiliency of the
system and helps identify and restore power outages more quickly as we
face stronger and more regular storms across Northern and Central
California.
In the last five years, PG&E has invested $15 billion to enhance and
harden its electric transmission and distribution system assets. A wide
range of factors, from the operation of new distribution control centers
to the building of a smarter energy infrastructure to advances in
forecasting and emergency planning, all contributed to better
reliability during storms.
PG&E’s
meteorology team has developed a Storm Outage Prediction Model that
incorporates real-time weather forecasts, historic data and system
knowledge to accurately show where and when storm impacts will be most
severe. This model enables the company to pre-stage crews and equipment
as storms approach to enable rapid response to outages.
For more information about outages and ways to prepare and stay safe
during the storm, please visit www.pge.com.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas
and electric energy companies in the United States. Based in San
Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of
the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and
Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/
and pge.com/news.
http://www.pgecurrents.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pacificgasandelectric
https://twitter.com/pge4me
http://www.linkedin.com/company/pacific-gas-and-electric-company
http://www.youtube.com/user/pgevideo
Contacts
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Donald Cutler, 415-973-5930
