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Major Power Outage Cuts Electricity to Tens of Thousands in Placer County

Traffic signals and alarm systems failed, prompting deputies to warn drivers to treat dark intersections as four-way stops.

Overview

  • The outage began shortly after 6:30 a.m. Saturday and rapidly expanded as PG&E logged initial reports and crews began patrolling the area to find the fault.
  • PG&E reported evolving customer counts during the morning with local tallies near 47,000 and the utility later saying roughly 61,000 customers were affected at peak while crews restored about 12,000 accounts.
  • The Placer County Sheriff’s Office received multiple calls about dark traffic signals and triggered alarms and advised extra caution on roads and slower travel through affected communities.
  • PG&E described the event as an unplanned outage and said teams are working to identify the cause and safely restore service with restoration timelines varying by neighborhood.
  • The outage has hit many unincorporated areas and towns including Auburn, Granite Bay, Loomis and Colfax and residents were directed to PG&E’s outage map and local emergency channels for updates.