Highway 101 Crash, Planned Outages Cuts Power Across Sonoma County

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — A vehicle struck a PG&E power pole Thursday morning, bringing down electrical lines across Highway 101 in Novato and leaving more than 6,000 customers in Marin and Sonoma counties without power.

According to PG&E spokesperson Megan McFarland, the crash happened at about 9 a.m. when a vehicle hit a utility pole. The impact brought down power lines spanning Highway 101.

PG&E cut power to the downed lines while crews work with first responders to clear the area and repair the damage.

As of Thursday morning, approximately 6,022 customers in Novato and Sonoma were without electricity because of the crash. Restoration estimates were not immediately available.

The crash-related outage coincided with a separate planned outage in Sonoma County.

PG&E issued an alert at 8:23 a.m. for a planned shutdown affecting 116 customers near Leddy Park. The utility estimated service would be restored by 4 p.m. Thursday.

It is unclear why the alert was issued shortly before the planned shutdown was scheduled to begin or whether affected customers received an earlier notification. Several residents posted on social media that they were surprised by the alert.

PG&E did not immediately provide additional information about the work prompting the planned outage.

According to the utility, planned outages allow crews to perform maintenance, replace equipment, or complete other work intended to improve the reliability and safety of the electric system.

Customers can monitor both outages and restoration updates through PG&E's online Outage Center.