I am sorry for those who are dangerously affected. I’m concerned about traffic lights in the area.
We have a generator—not whole house but it keeps the fridge, freezer, Internet, computers, Tv, some lighting going.
800,000 is a lot, whether or not it’s a fraction of the total population.
Oxygen machines and cpap can come with battery backup. Not necessarily a financial possibility for many.
Any system with generator backup (hospital, U lab, eg,) should have a secondary backup as well. Might lead to a brown out, but better than nothing.
I wonder how folks who have medical needs for electrical power (eg oxygen, nebulizers, cpap, refrigerated Rx) are supposed to wait out power outages, especially when the duration is unknown or unstated. That would be very concerning to me.
^^^Agree.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Edited and deleted a bunch of posts. Please be kind, folks.
We have a generator but internet is OUT. Comcast/Xfinity system runs on electrical power. Unless they install a generator at each of their drops, they will out of service when power goes out.
We can hotspot to Verizon but it is painfully slow.
800 utility members included offices and industry. That’s a lot
Oh god. Now Mr. is going to get into “maybe that solar roof is back th the picture” mode.
I worked in solar for the past 10 years and even though I had employee discounts, for some reason I backed out on 2 occasions right at installation time. I probably should look into this again even though I’m not at a solar company any more.
800k , not 800
It’s the 20 year payback on solar that stopped me.
The big telecoms have satellite backup, but I doubt the little people get any priority on access. And I’d guess it’s far more effective for voice calls than web gigabits.
DS has solar on his house. He estimated, IIRC, 7 or 8 year payback.
I am currently on the phone with my insurer, trying to get authorized to by a portable lithium ion battery pack so I can use my compressor to take my medication when I’m in CA to see my MD if/when there’s a blackout.
I suspect other affected patients will need to rake similar steps.
I am in Marin County (north of Golden Gate). While we did not lose power, many in Marin did. We were told by the water district to cease irrigation and conserve indoor water, as the water treatment plant would lose power.
To the north of us, Sonoma and Napa counties were hit hard. School districts closed, which obviously affects parents, which also affects many who work in Marin. Traffic lights out. Gas stations were mobbed on Tuesday, before shut down. Golfed in Napa on Tuesday…and courses were dousing the greens, in anticipation that their irrigation systems wouldn’t be working when power out.
This was very bad timing for many wineries, as the crush is on. Doors had to be left open at night to keep product cool., etc.
October is also huge wedding month in Wine country. We have two this weekend…and those families got the calls (because internet out, so no email) from caterers, florists, venues, hotels giving heads up that once power cut, it may be out up to five days before it would be back. Talk about stress!
And most of these losses are not covered by insurance. If they didn’t have generators, caterers, florists, grocery stores all lost product.
People are livid…mainly because power went out as early as midnight Tuesday. Winds were under 10 mph until Wednesday…and then only a few mountain tops got winds of any substance.
What a mess, @gosmom and @dietz199.
I believe DS’ s in-laws lost poser to their home and their medical practice. That affected a lot of folks.
We were planning on going to Napa this weekend but could not. What a giant mess!!!
And every year. Or nearly so. And such a beautiful area.
Best to you all.
30 some homes were destroyed or damaged in a fire in Porter Ranch last night. It has made air quality horrible for much of the Valley. The fire is suspected to have started at a high power line owned by PG&E.
A neighbor caught the fire’s start on her cell.
Yes it is inconvenient to be without electricity. But 85 people lost their lives last year due to 100 year old lines which started the Camp fire. Until the power companies spend money on upgrading their infrastructure, cutting off power is the only solution.
@TatinG I could be wrong, but I think the Porter Ranch fire is under LA Power.
But I agree…all power companies need to be upgrading their infrastructure…
The big fire on the north side of LA is the Saddle Ridge fire. It is in the Porter Ranch area.
There was a Bay area man the needed oxygen 24/7 that died 12 minutes after the power was shut off on Wednesday.