SLO County town spent nearly 11 hours without power. What was it like?
When the electricity came back on shortly after 2 p.m. Jan. 10 in Cambria, after a nearly 11-hour communitywide outage, the sense of relief was palpable.
With internet service also out, some cell phones not connecting well or at all and Highway 1 closed at Morro Bay, some people said they felt cut off and frustrated.
They also really wanted a cup of coffee, being unable to brew it at home.
Electrical and internet service to others in Cambria and San Simeon began earlier and was out for far longer, but the outage that hit about 3,544 PG&E accounts began about 3:26 a.m. Eventually, more than 5,000 accounts in the area were affected.
Stiff winds, downpours and lightning the night before knocked out the power and internet connections, and left downtown Cambria like a ghost town. The usually bustling shops were closed up tight.
Although the weather was much calmer Jan. 10 than it had been during recent bomb cyclone storms, there were a few quick downpours during the day, along with a few more downed trees.
Cambria resident Mark Landgreen took his dog for a walk in the early morning almost-sunshine at the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve.
He said cheerily that the trail along the bluff was in fairly good shape. The preserve’s forested and other trail areas remained closed, due to fallen trees and unsafe conditions.
The Cambria Community Services District, which owns the 430-acre oceanfront preserve in the middle of town, notified townspeople via email and social media Jan. 5 that the Victoria Way, Tipton, Trenton, Forest Loop, and Creek-to-Forest trails on the ranch were closed, as were the Santa Rosa Creek, Dolphin, SeaClift, and East Ranch areas.
District staffers will reopen the trails as soon as it is safe do so.
Landgreen said that his rain gauge had already registered 22.5 inches of precipitation since July 1, more than the community gets in most years.
The San Simeon Community Services District notified people via email at 2:12 p.m. Jan. 10 that the board of directors’ meeting scheduled for 5 p.m. that night was postponed.
Moments later, the power went back on for most PG&E customers in Cambria. By 3 p.m., Spectrum internet services were operating again.
Board President Jacqueline Diamond said that the meeting may be postponed to another date later in the week, depending on participants’ schedules.
Cambria businesses impacted by power outages
On Jan. 10, a few local entrepreneurs and restaurateurs went into their businesses, but with the lights out and electronic cash registers idled, there wasn’t a lot they could do.
Cookie Crock Market grocery store was among the businesses that closed their doors due to the power outage.
Miguel Viveros, owner of the French Corner Bakery, was outside his shop on Jan. 10. When asked how he was doing, he threw his hands in the air and said, “There’s not much I can do yet.”
Landscaper Mike Rice was checking his customer’s properties for storm readiness and repairs that needed to be done.
When his cell phone wouldn’t connect, he conjectured that perhaps it was a repeat of a previous issue when “the backup batteries for the cell towers also ran out of power.”
Chris Gutierrez, co-owner of the Cambria General Store and gas station, also didn’t have electricity, but he opened for business as usual.
Gutierrez had lots of customers that day and said his business was probably twice what it usually is. Without power, he could only take payments in cash.
Although some people were disappointed that he couldn’t provide coffee or gasoline, he said, the most sought-after purchase was ice, bought in bags to help keep refrigerators, freezers and food cold during the outage.
Meanwhile, the Cavalier Inn Resort restaurant in San Simeon was providing coffee and food to grateful patrons, thanks to onsite generator power.
“The coffee was good and hot, and the breakfast was yummy!” Cambria resident Pat Riley said. “I got ‘to go’ but they were serving inside also.”
Gas station hit by flooding
At the Old Cambria Marketplace and Shell Station, manager Eric Johnson was raking and scraping flood goo from the paved areas in front of the gas pumps and the convenience store at about 7:30 a.m. Jan. 10.
“I feel like I just did this yesterday,” Johnson said.
After being flooded out on Jan. 8 and 9, Johnson said he was going to hold off having the company come to pump the water out of his gas pumps again, in case there was more flooding.
After rainfall, winds and “serious lightning” overnight, when he drove to the station at dawn Tuesday, Johnson paused to check the water level and flow rate in Santa Rosa Creek. Overflow from the creek kept adding to the flooding along that area of Main Street.
“It had gone way down,” he said, which relieved some of his stress.
Johnson said he has a small generator for the station’s pumps and the cash register, but wasn’t going to open the large convenience store until he could pump gas and brew some coffee.
This story was originally published January 11, 2023 at 5:35 AM.
