California power outages continue after storms leave thousands in dark
Ten of thousands of homes in California remained without power Friday as heavy rains and high winds continued to pound the state.
With more rain and storms to come, power companies such as Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Southern California Edison prepared for additional outages into next week.
"We have a short window of time to make as much progress as we can before the next weather system in this series of storms enters our service area over the weekend,” said Janisse Quiñones, PG&E’s senior vice president for electric operations, in an update on the company's website. PG&E had about 2,300 outages affecting 95,500 customers as of 3 p.m. Thursday.
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The National Weather Service expects another atmospheric river to hit northern California late Friday and spread to central California Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. (Atmospheric rivers, which channel warm tropical air into precipitation, deliver increased rainfall.)
Continued heavy rain, coming after other massive storms hit the region on New Year's Eve and Wednesday, will likely lead to more flash floods and mudslides, the National Weather Service says.
As a "more intense atmospheric river" hits the state Monday, more heavy rain and gusty winds, lasting into Tuesday, could bring additional power outages, the NWS said.
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Saturated ground and the prospect of more strong winds could result in fallen trees, which could increase the likelihood of widespread power outages, AccuWeather said.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: California power outage maps: Storms leave thousands in dark
