Support NeoGAF

[EviLore]

Unprecedented California Blackout Ending as PG&E Restores Power

Californians are emerging from an unprecedented blackout that plunged millions into darkness this week as utility giant PG&E Corp. tried to keep its power lines from igniting catastrophic wildfires.

www.bloomberg.com

The unprecedented power shutdown by California’s PG&E Corp. has spread deeper into densely populated cities near San Francisco, ensnaring millions of people and raising the prospect that much of a major metropolitan area could go without electricity for days.

The bankrupt utility said late Wednesday that it had begun a second round of power cuts that will plunge another 234,000 customers in cities including Berkeley and Oakland into darkness. It’s part of the biggest blackout ever orchestrated to prevent strong winds from knocking down electrical lines and igniting fires. Half a million homes and businesses in Northern California were already in the dark, cut off by PG&E overnight.

Meanwhile in Southern California, Edison International was cutting power to dozens of customers and has warned of more, while San Diego’s main utility is also considering shutoffs. Altogether, more than 3 million people may eventually be affected, or almost 8% of the state’s population, based on city estimates and the average household size. The economic impact may reach $2.6 billion.

After being forced into bankruptcy from wildfires its equipment caused over the past two years, PG&E is using the massive power cuts in an attempt to prevent another deadly disaster. While San Francisco and Silicon Valley will be spared, the extensive reach of the outages threatens to roil the area’s economy by disrupting workers, shutting stores and forcing companies and agencies to shell out for costly back-up generators to keep operations limping along.

A prolonged blackout will strain the region’s economy, said Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford University. Blackouts lasting hours or a single day close offices and schools, and prompt runs on grocery stores. At five days, cupboards start running bare, diesel for backup generators start selling out and gasoline runs short as stations won’t have power.

“If you lose power for five hours, you may have to throw out some milk,” Wara said. “If you lose power for five days, you need to throw anything that’s perishable away, and you are likely eating out of a can.”

Wara estimated PG&E’s blackout could cost $2.6 billion if it lasts two days, using a planning tool developed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Two of the researchers who developed that tool, however, cautioned that it’s designed to calculate the impact of much shorter blackouts -- less than 24 hours.

In areas where electricity was already out early Wednesday, many stores and businesses sat closed, while others worked off back-up power. Wells Fargo shuttered some branches. A few dozen Safeway supermarkets were affected as of midday, and the company was providing backup generators and refrigerated trailers upon availability.

Cities also turned to generators to power some facilities on Wednesday and simply closed others. Santa Rosa used generators to keep tap water flowing to residents and the lights on in fire stations. It shut down City Hall, according to its website. Public buses were running but not collecting fares -- its own expense.

 

[Deleted member 738976]

At last my spider brethren the moment to strike is now!

Hordes of tarantulas are crawling across San Francisco right now

If you have a natural aversion to spiders, you might want to steer clear of the San Francisco Bay Area for at least the next …

bgr.com

 

[Tesseract]

just goes to show how fucked we are if a nuke goes off in the upper atmosphere

 

[BlackOlivesMatter]

California gets everything that they deserve.

Fence the whole state in and let the chips fall as they may a la Escape from NY/LA

 

[interactivemonodrama]

is it true that everyone looks good in california

 

[Trojita]

All those people always saying west coast best coast

I hope that hospitals and senior living centers are being properly taken care of with generators.

 

[Fox Mulder]

I’m guessing it’s no fluke this is happening in California. What a utopia of human feces and blackouts.

 

[Tesseract]

it's time for a genius homeless engineer to create a shit needle generator for the people

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

At last my spider brethren the moment to strike is now!

Hordes of tarantulas are crawling across San Francisco right now

If you have a natural aversion to spiders, you might want to steer clear of the San Francisco Bay Area for at least the next …

bgr.com

I'd take a spider horde over its current citizens ngl.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

All those people always saying west coast best coast

Oregon and Washington are doing just fine, thanks.

 

[Pejo]

ITT: People in flyover states staying mad.

This planned outage shit makes me so annoyed though. It'd be one thing if they were using the outage time to actually replace the old power lines and equipment, or working on upgrading it throughout the year, but nah. A lot of people here see it as a way for them to get out of any liability when the power's off and the yearly California wildfires still happen.

It's been a real test of our DR solution at work, so that part's actually been sorta exciting.

 

[Ornlu]

Oregon and Washington are doing just fine, thanks.

I mean I guess you avoid the drier climate and the energy issues, but the cities ain't doin great either.

Seattle Under Siege

The Seattle metro area spends more than $1 billion fighting homelessness every year. That’s nearly $100,000 for every homeless man, woman, and child, yet the crisis seems only to have deepened.

www.city-journal.org

Antifa and Far-Right Groups Face Off in Portland as Trump Weighs In (Published 2019)

Conservative groups are urging the United States to label Antifa a domestic terrorist group. President Trump said the city was “being watched very closely.”

www.nytimes.com

 

[TheShadowLord]

It's better they cut off the power if it means to prevent massive wildfires like they had the last few times. Don't understand why some of you think this is funny.

 

[Manus]

What about all that clean energy that they have been producing? Guess it's not as good as most people thought.

Big surprise.

 

[TrainedRage]

I speak for the rest of the country when I say sarcastically... Ohhhh Noooo.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

ITT: People in flyover states staying mad.

We're not mad sweetheart, we're concerned about the 3rd world nation to our West that constantly floods us with refugees who try to turn our beautiful states into other 3rd world nations.

Get your shit together.

 

[Sub_Level]

I’m guessing it’s no fluke this is happening in California. What a utopia of human feces and blackouts.

Its no fluke because of the vegetation combined with drought conditions.

If you're implying its political,well:

The counties affected are pretty mixed between liberal and conservative.

What about all that clean energy that they have been producing? Guess it's not as good as most people thought.

Big surprise.

Its good enough for California to be the fifth largest economy on Earth

 

[TTOOLL]

Shameful.

 

[brap]

ITT: People in flyover states staying mad.

ITT: people laughing at your turd world shithole

 

[oagboghi2]

Its good enough for California to be the fifth largest economy on Earth

'clean energy' has nothing to do with that.

 

[Later Alligator]

I mean I guess you avoid the drier climate and the energy issues, but the cities ain't doin great either.

Seattle Under Siege

The Seattle metro area spends more than $1 billion fighting homelessness every year. That’s nearly $100,000 for every homeless man, woman, and child, yet the crisis seems only to have deepened.

www.city-journal.org

Antifa and Far-Right Groups Face Off in Portland as Trump Weighs In (Published 2019)

Conservative groups are urging the United States to label Antifa a domestic terrorist group. President Trump said the city was “being watched very closely.”

www.nytimes.com

i mean, you could keep moving the goal posts and find a negative article on any city in the world (let alone confined to USA)

 

[Texas Pride]

is it true that everyone looks good in california

If it's dark who the fuck cares right?

On topic quarantine the entire state. The only escape is South back into Mexico.

 

[Ornlu]

i mean, you could keep moving the goal posts and find a negative article on any city in the world (let alone confined to USA)

Lol @ "negative article" like I picked the only one I could find about each. There are a lot of articles you can read about both subjects. There are serious problems in both cities. I picked one city from each state that are supposedly doing fine.

What goal posts am I moving? I responded directly to the assertion made by the poster I responded to.

 

[EviLore]

 

[Pagusas]

Why do you all have to be so extreme in your views? You cant appreciate that a place can be both awesome and suck at some stuff too? California is amazing in some ways and a shit hole in others, and so is every other state and country in the world.

 

[#Phonepunk#]

is it true that everyone looks good in california

a lot of them look plastic. plastic surgery capital of the world. it is the land of plastic people. i've never thought fashion models looked that hot, IMO Hollywood is largely run by gays. that standard of beauty doesn't really appeal to me.

IMO the south is where the most beautiful people in America live. southern girls are the hottest ever. natural, well-fed beauties.

honestly they need to start thinking of solutions to this. Cali is the symbolic head of progressive America, and yet it has insane income inequality, super expensive housing, and constant environmental disasters. if they want to convince us that they can end climate change, floods, hurricanes, starvation, etc. maybe they should prove it by fixing this wildfire shit in their own backyard.

 

[Later Alligator]

Lol @ "negative article" like I picked the only one I could find about each. There are a lot of articles you can read about both subjects. There are serious problems in both cities. I picked one city from each state that are supposedly doing fine.

What goal posts am I moving? I responded directly to the assertion made by the poster I responded to.

he clearly said Oregon and Washington are doing fine, as in there are no large scale power outages in either state - the topic of this thread. moving goal posts = bringing up completely unrelated topics - homeless and antifa/far-right clashing (assuming by far right they mean proud boys, though I didn't read the article)

i can find an article doing the same thing for any city in the US. some states/cities just make it easier than others (Florida Man)

 

[Thaedolus]

Why do you all have to be so extreme in your views? You cant appreciate that a place can be both awesome and suck at some stuff too? California is amazing in some ways and a shit hole in others, and so is every other state and country in the world.

It's fun to dog pile and it's fun to go 'hurrrdduuurr why live in that shithole?' from the comfort of your midwest double wide in the middle of a flood plain and tornado alley.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

If there is a God, he is trying to tell us something here. If people start turning into brimstone I'll go to church. Next Sunday.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Why do you all have to be so extreme in your views? You cant appreciate that a place can be both awesome and suck at some stuff too? California is amazing in some ways and a shit hole in others, and so is every other state and country in the world.

I've seen most of California driving a truck all over your highways, and it is a jewel of absolute beauty with diverse biomes, and a wealth of natural splendour.

The problem with California lies solely with its population.

 

[lock2k]

Shit, hobos and tarantulas during a blackout? What a paradise lol.

 

[Foamy]

Did anyone else notice what looks a guy getting serviced in the foreground by the Ferris wheel? A magical place indeed.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Did anyone else notice what looks a guy getting serviced in the foreground by the Ferris wheel? A magical place indeed.

There is only one "A Magical Place", and it is anethema to California.

 

[oagboghi2]

Why do you all have to be so extreme in your views? You cant appreciate that a place can be both awesome and suck at some stuff too? California is amazing in some ways and a shit hole in others, and so is every other state and country in the world.

It’s hard to take this seriously when Californians are notorious for shitting on other parts of the country. Way to late for this kumbaya shit

 

[Torrent of Pork]

It’s hard to take this seriously when Californians are notorious for shitting on other parts of the country. Way to late for this kumbaya shit

I live in Central Florida, right where every single one of you motherfuckers go to on vacation. Natural Floridians are good'ol'boys who understand Southern Hospitality, we only put up with tourist's bullshit for the money they spend in our lovely State. I don't give a fuck about your Californian bullshit, just spend your money and get the fuck out. Your desire to go to Disney World causes me an additional half hour on my day every time I need to enter Orlando.

 

[Gargus]

California gets everything that they deserve.

Fence the whole state in and let the chips fall as they may a la Escape from NY/LA

Have cameras setup, satellite footage, drone cameras and such. Then make it pay per view worldwide and funnel the proceeds to the public school system.

 

[SCReuter]

Just woke up to another blackout. I’m getting the hell out of California. It hasn’t even been a full two weeks since I last tossed out all my refrigerated food.

 

[Tesseract]

shit sucks dude, get out if you can

california is on borrowed time

 

[JimiNutz]

Wait, so there's no power, giant spiders are swarming the street at night and the homeless shuffle around like zombie hordes defecating on the streets?

Sounds like the kind of environment that I'd thrive in. Time to book a one way ticket.

 

[bronk]

California gets everything that they deserve.

Fence the whole state in and let the chips fall as they may a la Escape from NY/LA

I’m guessing it’s no fluke this is happening in California. What a utopia of human feces and blackouts.

ITT: people laughing at your turd world shithole

Why you guys hate me?

 

[JSoup]

I kept getting told out power would be cycled, but it's yet to happen.

is it true that everyone looks good in california

Nope, I look like garbage.

 

[SCReuter]

Power just went out again. That’s the third blackout in four weeks. It’s barely even windy outside.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Power just went out again. That’s the third blackout in four weeks. It’s barely even windy outside.

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

 

[Halo is Back]

Pfft I deal with that shit every time hurricane season comes where I live.

 

[Shifty]

But how will the hipsters get their skinny pumpkin spiced lattes now?

While San Francisco and Silicon Valley will be spared

Oh I see how it is.

 

[McCheese]

Is this a plot to bring property prices down in areas surrounding SF and silicon valley?

 

[008]

Why do you all have to be so extreme in your views? You cant appreciate that a place can be both awesome and suck at some stuff too? California is amazing in some ways and a shit hole in others, and so is every other state and country in the world.

Yeah, seriously. There's some great things about California along with some bad.

 

[EverydayBeast]

There's reasons to live in California and than there's reasons not to, this is one of the later.

 

[JSoup]

The one benefit to living in the middle of this state is we're the last place to be hit by anything blowing up the rest of the state. The blackouts haven't gotten here yet and, frankly, if they do, that means the fires have gotten so out of control that we're all fucked anyway.

 

[brian0057]

Or as we like to call it in Venezuela: a regular Tuesday.