California Power Outages: Fire Danger Prompts PG&E to Cut Electricity

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5. Detailed article without x articles/month quota. So. Cal could be affected Thurs

A few choice excerpts of a good long article about the mess this is creating -- like long lines at stores to buy stuff needed to prepare, and running out of course and all that

https://kstp.com/national/millions-face-power-outages-in-northern-california-as-risk-for-wildfires-increase-october-9-2019-/5519436/?cat=12678

The winds will be the strongest and most widespread the region has seen in two years, PG&E said

It could take as many as five days to restore power after the danger has passed because every inch of power line must be checked to make sure it isn't damaged or in danger of sparking a blaze, PG&E said.

To the south, Southern California Edison said more than 106,000 of its customers in parts of eight counties could face power cuts as early as Thursday as Santa Ana winds loomed.

Outages even posed a threat that fire hydrants wouldn't work at a time of extreme fire danger.

PG&E said it was informing customers by text and email about where and when the power would be cut. But its website, where it directed people to check whether their addresses would be affected, was not working most of the day Tuesday after being overloaded with visitors.