San Diego Gas & Electric restored power to a few thousand customers Thursday morning but with another series of Santa Ana winds expected to barrel through the county Thursday night and early Friday, the utility warned that a fresh set of outages may resume.
The number of SDG&E customers who had their power lines de-energized as a precautionary measure to avoid potential wildfires had dropped from almost 9,000 on Wednesday night to 2,337 at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
Improved weather conditions allowed crews to patrol power lines and inspect equipment in affected areas. But SDG&E said in a statement that “it can be difficult to predict how long an inspection may take, given the varied length of each power line, the terrain and whether aerial inspections are required.”
With winds roaring as high as 80 miles an hour in places such as Palomar Mountain, SDG&E earlier this week initiated Public Safety Power Shutoffs that de-energize circuits in areas to help ensure that gusts don’t knock down power lines and possibly start a fire when they hit the ground.
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The outages have been concentrated in backcountry and rural communities in East County, such as Alpine, Valley Center, Jacumba, Julian and Descanso.
But power many areas is still not expected to be restored until Friday or Saturday because forecasters expect the Santa Ana winds to come in multiple waves. That means a fresh wave of power shutoffs may be likely.
Winds expected to kick back up by Thursday afternoon. SDG&E has notified about 75,000 customers of potential power shutoffs.
Brian D’Agostino, SDG&E’s vice president of wildfire and climate science, earlier this week described the windstorm as a “long-duration event” that will cover several days and last until early next week.
The combination of high winds and dry vegetation increase the risk of wildfire. San Diego has received just 0.14 inches of precipitation since Oct. 1, making it the driest start to the rainy season since 1850.
Locally, a network of community resource centers has been established in areas experiencing power outages so residents can charge their electronic devices, access Wi-Fi and get water, snacks and updates. As of Thursday, those locations are:
- Boulevard Community Center, 39919 Ribbonwood Road, Boulevard
- Descanso Branch Library, 9545 River Drive, Descanso
- Whispering Winds Catholic Camp, 17606 Harrison Park Road, Julian
- Pine Valley Improvement Club, 28890 Old Highway 80, Pine Valley
- Lake Morena Community Resource Center, 29765 Oak Drive, Campo
- Valley Center Branch Library, 29200 Cole Grade Road
Thus far, the San Diego area has avoided the devastation seen in the greater Los Angeles area that has seen 2,000 structures burn to the ground since Tuesday.
At least five people have died, but officials say the death toll is likely to be higher, about 130,000 residents are under evacuation orders and fires are still raging.
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