Power Outages Strike 13,900 In Santa Cruz County

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA — Nearly 13,900 Pacific Gas & Electric Co. customers in Santa Cruz County woke to find themselves in the dark Monday morning after the utility shut off power to 361,000 customers across 36 counties beginning Sunday night.

The public safety power shutoffs were a preemptive move to minimize the chance of utility equipment sparking a wildfire as winds wallop the Golden State. The utility's service area was forecast to see "the driest humidity levels and the strongest winds of the wildfire season thus far, that together create high risk of catastrophic wildfires," PG&E said in a news release.

PG&E customers in all Bay Area counties, except for San Francisco, were slated to lose power. In Santa Cruz County, no South County customers were affected, a PG&E map indicated Monday morning.

Here's the Santa Cruz County breakdown:

• Ben Lomond: 1
• Santa Cruz: 10
• Scotts Valley: 339
• Unincorporated: 13,522

PG&E has set up four outdoor community resource centers in Santa Cruz County for those who have been impacted by power shutoffs. Visit Boulder Creek's St. Michaels Church (13005 Pine St.), Ben Lomond's Highlands Park (8500 CA-9), Scotts Valley's Enterprise Technology Center (100 Enterprise Way) and Santa Cruz's Costco Wholesale (220 Sylvania Ave.) from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Centers offer snacks, water, device charging, accessible bathrooms and Wi-Fi.

PG&E said it will restore power after the winds have died down and crews are able to safely inspect utility equipment.

Shutoffs are expected to continue into late Monday evening, as windy weather is expected to subside Monday morning for most of those affected, PG&E said. Some areas are forecast to see windy weather into Tuesday morning.

See which regions have been affected here.