Update 11 a.m.: The outage includes Willits High and the Willits branch of the Mendocino County Library, which will be implementing closures until the power is restored. Willits High will be transporting students to their usual destinations via bus as of 11:08 a.m., according to a Facebook announcement from the Willits Unified School District.
WILLITS, 11/8/22 — The rainy weather has brought power outages across the Willits area this morning, with at least 2,043 customers without power in one outage, and a number of other smaller outages in the vicinity of the town of Willits. According to PG&E, crews are on the way to the largest power outage, which was first reported just before 10 a.m., but right now there is no cause or time of restoration provided by the utility company.
Prior to this most recent rain storm, PG&E announced that they would be preparing and staging additional staff in order to better respond to storm-related outages. You can sign up for notifications for your specific address, and check on updates for the reported outages, at this PG&E outage webpage.
Here’s some tips from PG&E about downed power lines and other storm safety advice:
Safety Tips
- Never touch downed wires: If you see a downed power line, assume it is energized and extremely dangerous. Do not touch or try to move it—and keep children and animals away. Report downed power lines immediately by calling 911 and by calling PG&E at 1-800-743-5002.
- Use flashlights, not candles: During a power outage, use battery-operated flashlights, and not candles, due to the risk of fire. If you must use candles, please keep them away from drapes, lampshades and small children. Do not leave candles unattended.
- Have a backup phone: If you have a telephone system that requires electricity to work, such as a cordless phone or answering machine, plan to have a standard telephone or cellular phone ready as a backup.
- Have fresh drinking water, ice: Freeze plastic containers filled with water to make blocks of ice that can be placed in your refrigerator/freezer during an outage to prevent foods from spoiling. Blue Ice from your picnic cooler also works well in the freezer.
- Use generators safely: Customers with standby electric generators should make sure they are properly installed by a licensed electrician in a well-ventilated area. Improperly installed generators pose a significant danger to customers, as well as crews working on power lines. If using portable generators, be sure they are in a well-ventilated area.
- Turn off appliances: If you experience an outage, unplug or turn off all electrical appliances to avoid overloading circuits and to prevent fire hazards when power is restored. Simply leave a single lamp on to alert you when power returns. Turn your appliances back on one at a time when conditions return to normal.
- Safely clean up: After the inclement weather has passed, be sure to safely clean up. Never touch downed wires and always call 811 or visit 811express.com at least two full business days before digging to have all underground utilities safely marked.
