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A power outage left 15,000 PG&E customers in Yuba County adapting as events continued with community support and generators following a substation flood.
YUBA COUNTY, Calif. — About 15,000 PG&E customers were without power at one point after an outage in parts of Yuba County, forcing residents and businesses to adapt as crews worked to restore electricity Friday night.
At the Oregon House Grocery and Deli, lights flickered before a generator kicked on, allowing the store to keep operating as customers arrived.
Jill, who works at the store, said, “Like what is going on. Somebody says, the power is out. Let me go check the generator and it was running. It was running.”
She said the store sold gas as people responded to the outage.
“We sold a quiet a bit of gas just for that because everybody was out of it. I heard power was out all the way to Grass Valley and all the way to Brownsville,” said Jill.
Even with the outage, some community events continued.
Families showed up for a planned Valentine’s dance at Dobbins Elementary, powered by generators and community support.
“I got a call from my wife that it was still on and that I need to bring the generator and all the lights and keep it going,” said Parent Evan Christopherson.
The event carried on, with help from local organizations.
“Kiwanis donated a spaghetti dinner for us, we got a baked goods for dessert. coming together to have a little dance for the families,” said Christopherson.
Officials said the outage began when a pipe broke at the New Colgate Powerhouse, flooding a PG&E substation.
The Yuba Water Agency is now working on a recovery plan.
“Yuba water agency’s dam New Bullards Bar (Reservoir) is safe. The incident was not related to the dam and there is no threat to the public downstream of our facilities and we will learn more over the next several days,” said Willie Whittlesey, Yuba Water Agency General Manager.
Whittlesey said there will be no impact to Yuba Water Agency customers, but electric facilities were affected.
“There are some electric facilities that have been impacted by this. I don’t know the extent of those damage either. But we will assess that as well,” said Whittlesey.
For families nearby, relief came from knowing people were safe.
“Everyone was glad that everyone made it out okay because being so close, everyone knew people that worked for the company,” said Christopherson.
WATCH MORE ON ABC10 | New Colgate Powerhouse Pipe Break | Extended Interview
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