MsMaven, you remember worse? It seems to me like it’s all going downhill. But the longest I’ve ever spent there is 6 weeks.

You know, FI, I think it may only be worse in the imagination, like the violent crime rate. Or that is, it’s the intensity not the frequency that has worsened for disasters (and crime).

Yes, it’s the intensity I was thinking of. I don’t want to turn your thread into doom & gloom or laughable horror stories, but I would be interested in hearing specifics of when you and MM remember worse.

FI, the Oakland hills burned in the 90's and thousands of homes were lost. That was a terrible week for us here in northern California.

Yep, the power is off in my neighborhood. Planned ahead and pretty much just rolled out of bed at 5 and went to the office. Work has power so here I am. Hoping for a quick restoration. All I can say is PGE needs an overhaul...

No wind. Barely a breeze. Power out at midnight. Not sure we can keep Subzero fridge going on a generator. DH had to go to office.

Worse? Must have been thinking of ‘89 earthquake when we lived in Los Gatos mntns. Now we have water & gas and hope that no winds start up. Hope everyone else is safe.

Hoping the wind comes and goes quickly and the power comes back sooner rather than later.
Stay safe.

Power out in neighborhoods around me, but we still have power, knock on wood. We made a trip to Trader Joe's and bought some frozen food so I was sure that would jinx things. Nope. Wind only started at around noon, but it's not much. Weird thing is that I'm in a neighborhood considered to be *at risk*, although not really in the hills, meaning that firefighters come around annually to check on vegetation to make sure it is far enough away from house and above ground. The big CVS drug store near me, also not in the hills, lost power last night so is closed today. Looks like they will have to discard the many medications they have that require refrigeration, not to mention the ice cream.

I am most concerned for folks who need electrically powered medical devices. Luckily my minister who relies on a scooter and a friend who has an electric wheelchair both live in an area not likely to lose power. The utility company's attitude toward medically fragile folks is basically, "You're on your own to figure it out. Deal with it!"

In terms of worse... I was thinking along the lines of power outages being a regular thing in the old days. You expected it to go out a few times a year and for it to last awhile. That was System OK. 20 years ago, I was on a big quest for a candelabra so I could have some real light to eat dinner by. I also have memories of electricity rationing but I may be confusing countries or resources (electricity v gas v water).

As a diabetic... I feel concern that people have medical equipment/medicines and seem unaware of the concept of contingency planning. Equipment reps/medical professionals are supposed to discuss these things with you before you even get the equipment, etc. Because there are always of Acts of God.

Business are losing lots of money as well. Stupid move on PG&E’s part. Seems like they didn’t think this one through very well.

Rachy, is your power back on yet? Ours came back a few minutes ago. DH had gone to buy gas for our generator and we just had it running. We also loaded up a cooler with stuff from the fridge and $5 worth of ice. Now to reset all the timers. And reload the fridge.

And I can catch up on YLF.

There was some value in all this for us--we found out we needed to be better prepared for the next earthquake, fire, or outage for whatever reason.

I hope all those people who are dependent on electricity are okay.

I don’t know if power is back. I’m still at work. It wasn’t back when I left.

I will say this got me to stop fiddle faddling and get a solar charger for the necessary small electronics.

PGE was not at all prepared with their web and maps and order of business. I don’t blame them entirely. The PUC is a wreck too. Nor is our state alone. Remember that blackout that went from Canada all the way down to the states? We still haven’t started seriously talking about microgrids.

Hoping the power is back on when you return...such a difficult situation!

I guess we just have more info available now. I do recall Cali fires in the 90s, but people wearing masks because of the smoke is new to me, and makes more recent ones sound worse. It is very possible that I’m simply under informed.

As far as the planning of this goes—did PG&E weigh the effects of thousands (at least) of individuals starting up generators against the possibility of sparks from their equipment? Seems they may have shifted responsibility to someone else, while possibly increasing risk.

Power was restored in our neighborhood late last night. Such a relief! Hope this doesn't become a regular thing. I'm going to have to get a cot for my office.

Glad to hear some of you have power back in, and hope yours is too, rachylou! I know it was the right call for the circumstances, but it still makes me angry that those circumstances exist due to PG &E’s long-term negligence.

I took an out-of-town friend to Disneyland on Wednesday and it was mobbed. I think it was all Bay-area folks deciding to drive down with the unexpected days off school.

Lol, Jenn. Maybe it was!

Power was back when I got home... what bothers me tho is that the wind started to pickup and welll, everyone was done with the shutdowns when maybe they were still needed.

I do think it was the right call. And I do think people need to prepare and not let it go because someone should be taking care of things. Big gap between should and is.

Also, having worked in the energy sector... I have to say the PGE problem is not simple corporate negligence. It’s also regulatory negligence. And there’s a technical challenge too... we consume power these days like there’s no tomorrow.

Oh Rachy how scary! Glad you are home and safe for now. PGE is a mess for many reasons. Remember the San Bruno explosion from a few years ago? Ugh. Hope things settle down. Stay safe!

Stay safe, Rachy.
Wow, a solar phone charger is a good gadget. I did not know those existed.