Coastal power outages linger in San Mateo County

San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller, who represents the county’s coastal region, said he had communicated the urgency of the situation for many coastal residents to PG&E. The utility committed to bringing more service teams and contractors to the coast to work on power restoration Wednesday, he said. 

“I indicated to them, regardless, we need people on the coast to get power restored. This really is a public health crisis,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can to address these issues, [and] need PG&E to bring resources now to get power back on.” 

Many coastal residents are not connected to water utilities, using wells on the property that cannot be pumped without power, Mueller said. For others, loss of power means food spoiling. 

“For people already vulnerable, to lose food supply is a threat to their health,” he said. “We have people who have medical equipment that obviously needs to be powered.” 

The county has been delivering water to those who can’t leave their homes and don’t have access through their wells, Mueller said, and nonprofit stakeholders are giving out food cards to people who need help after food spoilage.

County libraries were open as community resource centers at Brisbane, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, El Granada and North Fair Oaks in coordination with the Red Cross from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Snacks, water and charging stations for phones will be provided. The Millbrae Library and the South San Francisco Library and Parks and Recreation Center were also open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with charging stations available.

Mueller will also be going in front of the California Coastal Commission on Friday, working to obtain the necessary permits to bring cable down the Tom Lantos Tunnels to provide greater cellphone coverage for residents in Montara and Moss Beach. This should allow for connection to more cell towers so residents will be able to communicate even in instances of power outage, he said. 

“People also lose cell power, lose communication,” he said. “A lot of people in areas of Montara and Moss Beach connect via the internet to be connected. When power goes out they don’t have that. They’re completely isolated.” 

Mueller also said he hoped to hold Board of Supervisors hearings with PG&E later in the year to explain the steps the company is taking to provide efficient and full-coverage service to the coast and county. 

Nearly 38,000 customers in the Bay Area remained without power as of 2 p.m. Wednesday, a total that rose from about 35,000 earlier in the day. The majority of the affected customers are in the South Bay, which has more than 19,000 without power, and in the North Bay, where nearly 14,000 are without power, Bay City News reported. 

Increases coincide with continued wind and rain on Wednesday, Bay City News said, although drier weather is predicted for Thursday and throughout the weekend.