East Palo Alto: Thousands without power after tree falls on PG&E line along Highway 101
EAST PALO ALTO — Thousands of PG&E customers in East Palo Alto, Belle Haven and parts of Menlo Park were without power Thursday after a fallen tree took out power lines along Highway 101.
In a Tweet sent out at about 10 a.m. Thursday, PG&E said it was facing a challenging situation restoring power to about 4,000 customers. The Tweet says fallen trees caused damage to the utility’s power lines and “it will not be possible to restore power without temporarily stopping traffic on nearby Highway 101 between March Road and Willow Road.”
The Tweet says PG&E is working with Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol to identify the best way to “safely do this work with the least possible traffic impact.”
At about 1 p.m., PG&E sent out another update saying “prior to PG&E making repairs to this section of line, the fallen tree needs to be removed.” The utility said it was given clearance Thursday to begin emergency repair work and the tree removal and wire replacement should be completed by 6 p.m. As of 2:30 p.m. Thursday, traffic was being diverted from Highway 101.
The power outage that impacted the area around East Palo Alto — largely made up of Hispanic, Black and Asian people — also affected State Senator Josh Becker in Menlo Park, who said he was without heat and power Thursday afternoon.
In a Tweet, Becker said “PG&E can’t restore power after 48 hours! They should be able to move faster. Students in East Palo Alto are missing 2 days of schools… We must do better.”
In response to Becker PG&E apologized for the delay.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.