Quiet San Francisco city struggling a blackout now being stricken by noisy mills as employees rush to revive energy
A San Francisco community that was plunged into a blackout over Christmas is facing a new problem as locals say generators brought in to restore power have brought a deafening noise to the area.
Over 130,000 residents in parts of the California city were without power over the week of Christmas, and despite Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) restoring power to most customers, some in the Richmond District were left to only use generators.
The generators have been running nonstop since December 22 as an alternative power source at PG&E’s substation on 24th Avenue and Balboa Street, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The diesel-powered machines, which are in containers on truck trailers, have reached noise levels of 100 decibels, resident Vahid Sattary told KRON 4.
That level of noise is comparable to a jet taking off or jackhammers running, as Slattary complained that the noise has become ‘so loud you cannot have a simple conversation.’
Mi Zhou, a local staying at a hotel provided by the utility company, said locals have been left in limbo as they wait for power to be restored, and said her family ‘are more concerned about when this will end.’
Unfortunately for Zhou, PG&E officials have not specified how long the generators will run.
Diesel-powered generators have left locals in the Richmond District of San Francisco outraged, as the machines blare a constant, loud noise
A local reported the generators reach a peak noise level of 10 decibels, which is comparable to a jet taking off. The generators were brought to area after power outage left one-third of the city in the dark
‘These units were put into service on Monday morning, and will be turned off as soon as repairs are complete,’ said PG&E in a statement to the Chronicle.
Officials said the repairs were for another substation where a fire started, which contributed to the city-wide outage.
The temporary solution came shortly after a blackout on December 20 left a large swath of the north of the city in darkness for hours, until power was restored later that night to 95,000 customers.
Yet power has not yet returned for many in Richmond, and the power company said it is working on a plan to return to normal operations in ‘the days ahead’.
The residents have attempted to reach out to PG&E for answers, but say they have received little to no response.
‘We called the PG&E hotline to talk to several people. They took notes and said someone would contact us. No follow through,’ said Sattary to KRON 4.
The massive outage knocked out power to 130,000 homes and businesses across San Francisco
The outage represented roughly one-third of the PG&E’s customers in the city
‘For five nights, we have not been able to sleep. I don’t want to dilute, but PG&E has been unresponsive. They have not been good neighbors to us. I don’t know what to do.’
In addition, outraged residents have taken their complaints to Richmond Supervisor Connie Chan.
Chan has called out the company for its ‘completely unacceptable’ handling of the outage and is demanding that they remain accountable, according to the Chronicle.
On December 22 PG&E announced Automatic Bill Credits for Customers who were affected by the power outage in a press release.
‘The intent is to provide meaningful, timely relief without requiring customers to take additional steps. In response to the outage, PG&E is making these credits available to help offset the inconvenience and disruption caused by the event,’ wrote PG&E.
‘Residential customers will automatically receive a $200 bill credit, and business customers will receive an approximately $2,500 credit.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Pacific Gas and Electric Company for comment.
Driverless Waymo cars caused a high traffic jam during the outage after vehicles appeared confused by the malfunctioning street lights
A Waymo, a driverless taxi, is seen stuck in the middle of a busy intersection as other vehicles stop behind it and drivers try to make sense of the chaos
During the blackout, the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said on X there were ‘significant transit disruptions’ happening citywide and urged residents to avoid nonessential travel and treat down traffic signals as four-way stops.
The Mayor of San Francisco, Daniel Lurie, urged people to stay off the roads in a social media post.
‘We are still not clear when power will be restored to over 130,000 customers,’ Lurie wrote. ‘So what I am going to ask all of you to do is, if you do not need to go out tonight, stay home, be safe.’
The blackout sparked traffic chaos after Waymo robotaxis became stranded in the streets.
Waymos, the futuristic driverless taxis that were welcomed to the city last year, stopped in the middle of the streets.
The cars appeared to be frazzled by traffic lights malfunctioning amid the blackout, so a lot of the vehicles came to a complete stop, leaving those driving other cars to be hit with mayhem.
San Francisco is about 381 miles away from Los Angeles.
