San Diego Gas & Electric has announced that it will continue to shut off power in certain communities through Friday afternoon in order to reduce wildfire risk, with the potential to affect more than 50,000 customers.
The planned outages will be announced on SDG&E’s Public Safety Power Shutoff dashboard.
Nearly 9,000 San Diego Gas & Electric customers were without power at 3 p.m. Wednesday in rural communities such as Alpine, Boulevard, Campo, Julian, Pine Valley and parts of Escondido and Valley Center.
Tens of thousands more remain at risk of planned outages due to weather conditions, including residents in parts of Chula Vista, El Cajon, Poway, Ramona, La Mesa and Santee.
Critical fire weather conditions are expected through Friday, with the potential for gusts reaching up to 75 mph in the San Diego mountain foothills, according to the National Weather Service.
“Winds have weakened from their peak, and weak northeast winds are expected to continue overnight into Thursday morning,” San Diego NWS said. “Winds will continue to increase into Thursday afternoon, with strongest gusts expected Thursday night into Friday morning.”
This comes amidst the driest start to San Diego’s rainy season in 174 years, with no expected rainfall.
SDG&E says that it will open Community Resource Centers within the affected areas. These centers will offer resources such as Wi-Fi and phone and medical device charging, which will be available for affected customers until weather conditions improve.
Additionally, SDG&E has advised that high winds may lead to unplanned outages across the region, not just planned power cuts. For information on unplanned outages and expected restoration times, customers may visit sdge.com/outages.
A list of active Community Resource Center locations and their hours of operation as well as an updated list of affected communities can be found here.
City News Service contributed to this report.
Updated 3:50 p.m. Jan. 8, 2025
