Authorities are advising the public to stay indoors due to significant disruptions affecting traffic and public safety following a massive power outage that has impacted over 130,000 individuals.
A widespread blackout in San Francisco caused by the outage left 130,000 homes and businesses without power, according to Pacific Gas and Electric Co. The power failure affected various parts of the city, starting in the northwestern neighborhoods like Richmond and Presidio, and spreading southward, enveloping areas near Golden Gate Park in darkness.
Around one-third of the city experienced power loss, leading to closures of establishments, darkened street lights, and Christmas decorations being affected. The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management reported substantial transit disruptions citywide, urging residents to limit nonessential travel and treat malfunctioning traffic signals as four-way stops.
Transportation agencies in the city announced the bypassing of certain bus and train stations due to the power outages. Some of the blackouts were attributed to a fire at a PG&E substation on 8th and Mission streets, as confirmed by fire officials in a post.
By 4 p.m., PG&E announced that the power grid had been stabilized, with no expectation of further customer outages. However, the company could not confirm if power restoration would be completed by the end of Saturday. At the same time, PG&E did not provide immediate comments on the cause of the blackouts.