An apparently weather-related power outage turned out the lights to approximately 3,500 Walnut Creek residents Sunday, putting a sharp end to dinner plans and the latest Mission Impossible release.
Several theater-goers contacted this site about the premature ending when the lights went out shortly after 8 p.m., darkening a wide swath of the city and putting a crimp in any powered plans for the evening residents may have had.
Reports that a hospital and senior care facility were among those blacked out were confirmed by workers and patients, who reported that their facilities were switching to generator power or implementing other plans to keep residents cool in the hovering 80 degree temperatures.
Signal lights were out at key intersections and, in at least one instance, a frustrated resident took up position in the middle of the street in an effort to direct traffic before admitting defeat and eventually giving up.
No injuries were reported.
Well that was fun. What’s next?
Locusts? On Locust? Actually trying not to do too much forecasting… our predictions have a way of being realized.
I live a few blocks from downtown and no outage so I guess I’m lucky. I don’t understand why our power grid sometimes can’t handle it when temps hit 100 degrees, which isn’t that unusual in our area this time of year.
PG&E, are you listening? Or maybe it’s due to all the additional building/housing in our area the past 10 or 15 years, which the City of WC never seems to say no to, regardless of whether our infrastructure can handle it or not.
And wait until we all plug in our mandated electric cars! There ain’t enough power for what we need now. let alone the extra heavy draw from EVs.
We are FLUSH with hydropower in 2023. Beyond that, say a little prayer because it all depends upon human planning and politics, yours and mine. Outcomes are always better when we all share a common goal.
My roof is 30 years old, but it refuses to quit. When it inevitably does, I will replace it. I will add solar panels, lots of them. I will add battery backup so that I am independent of the power interruptions that plague the good people of Lafayette, for example. I live peacefully in Moraga, but I like having a running refrigerator and broadband regardless of where the system currently fails. I will add an EV charger whether I have an EV at that time or not. I will convert to a heat pump water heater. Unless PG&E effs up bigly, the grid will be more robust after my roof fails, not less. And while affluent communities have more options to support such moves, the writing is on the subway walls and congress halls. We are moving to renewable energy sources. We are moving to renewable energy sources.