PG&E outage in downtown SF extends into Saturday

A power outage in Downtown San Francisco that began Wednesday evening still has not been fully resolved as of 4 p.m. Saturday.

PG&E says their crews have been working around the clock to assess damage to underground facilities that serve the impacted North Beach area and were able to restore power to all but 495 customers as of 10:30 a.m. Thursday by connecting them to nearby power sources.

PG&E expected to restore power by Saturday morning to the remaining customers who are served directly by the damaged equipment. However, as of late Saturday afternoon, the utility’s outage map still showed several locations Downtown were without power.

“We know how disruptive it is to be without power and have brought in additional crews and resources to bolster restoration efforts,” a PG&E spokesperson said when the initial outage was reported Thursday. “We apologize for the inconvenience and will continue to provide restoration updates to our customers until power is fully restored.”

An unknown number of traffic lights went out in Downtown San Francisco Thursday morning after the power outage hit the northeastern corner of the city, officials said.

The PG&E power outage started late Wednesday evening, a spokesperson for SF Municipal Transportation Agency said.

The incident has been elevated to the city’s Department of Emergency Management, an SFMTA spokesperson said. The emergency and fire departments did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

The fire department tweeted that a fire at 640 Clay St. Wednesday night at 8:42 p.m. could be related to the power outages. The exact cause of the outage is still under investigation, PG&E said.

City motorists told The Standard they endured Thursday morning traffic chaos. Police officers were also spotted by commuters directing traffic at busy intersections, including Bay Street and Columbus Avenue. Lights were reportedly out all along Columbus Avenue and Montgomery Street.

“If you’re Downtown yourself, you can see some traffic is impacted,” an SFMTA spokesperson said Thursday morning. “We’re just reminding folks to drive safely, treat intersections as four-way stops and please be mindful of pedestrians, cyclists and other road users.”

READ MORE: If Downtown SF Is Dead, Why Is Traffic So Bad?

The PG&E outage has affected at least 9,400 customers since it started Wednesday night.