Weekend Power Outage Remains A Mystery

Photo by: Tracey Peterson

Sonora, CA–Early on Sunday morning, a few minutes after midnight, a power outage turned off the lights for 33,000 customers that impacted a swath of Tuolumne County. PG&E was alerted of the outage and arrived on the scene but found no immediate cause for why the power was disrupted. Dry wildfire conditions were a concern and it was determined to wait till daylight before turning the power back on in order to patrol the area with full visibility.

After the sun came up, air and ground resources, including a helicopter and a drone were used to inspect the transmission lines and locate any hazards. After none were found, the lines were reenergized with a majority of customers seeing the return of power by 7:00 am. The cause of the power outage is still unknown.