Thousands of San Rafael residents found themselves in the dark yesterday evening. Another significant power outage hit Marin County, affecting over 2,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers and continuing a frustrating pattern that’s become all too familiar lately.
From Terra Linda to the Canal District, people scrambled to adjust their evening plans. Utility crews rushed to figure out what went wrong and get the lights back on, but homes and businesses sat powerless for several hours.
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Details of the Current San Rafael Outage
Pacific Gas & Electric reported that exactly 2,152 customers in San Rafael lost power around 4:20 p.m. yesterday. The timing felt especially rough for folks coming home from work in Mill Valley and Corte Madera, only to be greeted by dark, silent houses.
Estimated Restoration Timeline
PG&E said they hoped to restore power by about 8:00 p.m., so most people faced four hours without electricity. Many downtown businesses had to close up early. Neighbors in the affected areas found themselves improvising dinner plans by flashlight.
At the time of writing, utility officials still hadn’t figured out what caused the outage.
History of Recent Power Disruptions in Marin
This week’s outage, while annoying, wasn’t as severe as some others Marin County has seen recently. San Rafael, Novato, and Fairfax have all dealt with major blackouts over the past year.
Previous Major Incidents
Earlier this year, a massive outage left over 20,000 residents in central Marin County without power. A car crashed into a power pole in southwestern San Rafael, near the San Anselmo border, and that single accident knocked out electricity across several neighborhoods.
Another time, nearly 3,000 customers in the Peacock Gap and Glenwood neighborhoods went dark because of equipment failure. Crews hustled through the morning, and everyone finally got their power back by 11:00 a.m.
Las Gallinas Valley Disruptions
The Las Gallinas area in northern San Rafael just can’t catch a break. Not long ago, a Monday morning outage hit 1,884 customers there, making the commute to Novato and San Francisco even more stressful.
Businesses around Northgate lost money since they couldn’t serve customers or run their usual operations until things got fixed. It’s starting to feel like a regular headache for folks in that part of town.
Weather-Related Challenges
Yesterday’s outage happened under clear skies, but Marin County folks have seen their share of storm-driven power cuts. North Bay towns like Larkspur, Greenbrae, and Tiburon have all dealt with outages when storms roll in.
A lot of people here seem to get it when the weather knocks out service. As one Kentfield resident put it, “When the storms hit hard, we know the power might go out. That’s just part of living in these beautiful wooded areas.”
If you lost power yesterday or just worry about the next blackout, PG&E suggests a few basics to keep handy:
Fall and winter bring more storms, so folks in San Rafael, Ross, and Sausalito might want to get ready now. PG&E’s outage notification system can help you stay in the loop when the weather turns nasty.
Here is the source article for this story: San Rafael Power Outage Affecting Thousands Of Customers
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