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A major electric outrage affected the residents of San Francisco, leaving 130,000 without power and the city officials have asked the locals to stay home as the power shortage can cause harm, according to the utility provider and the mayor.
Large parts of the West Coast tech hub, which has the highest population of more than 800,000 people were left in darkness with power disruptions. As Christmas approaches, the public transport and traffic lights are not functioning, hampering the festive spirit.
The power failure left a large swath of the northern part of the city in the dark, beginning with the Richmond and Presidio neighborhoods and areas around Golden Gate Park in the early afternoon and growing in size.
"We are working with first responders and city officials on an outage in San Francisco affecting approximately 130,000 customers," said Pacific Gas & Electric Company, the city's main power provider, in a statement on X.
A spokeswoman for the company said in a video posted on social media that workers were working to fix the issue.
"We do expect restorations later this evening," she said.
Many areas were covered in fog, as shops were forced to shut for the day at the height of holiday period, the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reported, leaving normally bustling commercial areas quiet.
Social media posts and local media reported mass closures of restaurants and shops and darkened street lights and Christmas decorations.
The city's mayor told residents to stay off roads if possible, adding some traffic signals were out and authorities had sent police and traffic officers to manage intersections.
"But we've got rain coming, it's night time. If you don't need to go out, stay home and I'll keep you posted," Mayor Daniel Lurie said at the city's emergency operations center in a video posted on X.
At least some of the blackouts were caused by a fire that broke out inside a PG&E substation at 8th and Mission streets, fire officials posted on X.
Large parts of the West Coast tech hub, which has the highest population of more than 800,000 people were left in darkness with power disruptions. As Christmas approaches, the public transport and traffic lights are not functioning, hampering the festive spirit.
The power failure left a large swath of the northern part of the city in the dark, beginning with the Richmond and Presidio neighborhoods and areas around Golden Gate Park in the early afternoon and growing in size.
"We are working with first responders and city officials on an outage in San Francisco affecting approximately 130,000 customers," said Pacific Gas & Electric Company, the city's main power provider, in a statement on X.
A spokeswoman for the company said in a video posted on social media that workers were working to fix the issue.
"We do expect restorations later this evening," she said.
Many areas were covered in fog, as shops were forced to shut for the day at the height of holiday period, the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reported, leaving normally bustling commercial areas quiet.
Social media posts and local media reported mass closures of restaurants and shops and darkened street lights and Christmas decorations.
The city's mayor told residents to stay off roads if possible, adding some traffic signals were out and authorities had sent police and traffic officers to manage intersections.
"But we've got rain coming, it's night time. If you don't need to go out, stay home and I'll keep you posted," Mayor Daniel Lurie said at the city's emergency operations center in a video posted on X.
At least some of the blackouts were caused by a fire that broke out inside a PG&E substation at 8th and Mission streets, fire officials posted on X.
