Power outages affect hundreds as storm pounds SLO County
Update, 4:20 p.m.
Power has been restored to all customers in Santa Margarita and Templeton. There are no more major power outages in San Luis Obispo County at this time.
Update, 3:10 p.m.
Power has been restored in the Edna area, according to PG&E.
Update, 12:15 p.m.
Another outage in the Santa Margarita area, south of Highway 58, is affecting 278 customers, according to PG&E.
Update, 9:40 a.m.
Power has been restored to customers along Highway 41 West between Morro Bay and Atascadero, according to PG&E. Power has also been restored to the majority of customers along Highway 46 West near Templeton, though 11 people in that area are still without power.
Update, 8:20 a.m.
Power has been restored to the Foothill Boulevard and Highway 1 area of San Luis Obispo, according to PG&E’s outage map.
Original story:
Hundreds of people were without power Thursday morning, just as heavy rain passed through the area.
As of 7:30 a.m., 135 PG&E customers in the Edna area off Highway 227, 143 customers near Foothill Boulevard and Highway 1 in San Luis Obispo, 89 customers along Highway 41 between Morro Bay and Atascadero, 45 customers along Highway 58 in the Santa Margarita area and 282 customers who live along Highway 46 West in Templeton were affected, according to PG&E’s outage map.
The outages primarily started between midnight and 3 a.m., according to PG&E.
PG&E said they expected power to be restored in the Santa Margarita area by 2:30 p.m. and San Luis Obispo by 8 a.m. Both of those outages were caused by equipment issues, the company said.
Causes and estimated restoration times for the other outages were not available as of 7:30 a.m.
At about midnight, the northwestern part of SLO County received very heavy rain — Rocky Butte recorded 0.47 inches in 10 minutes, according to the National Weather Service.
The agency issued a flash flood warning early Thursday morning for San Luis Obispo and the southern part of SLO County, as well as the Santa Maria area. The warning was in effect until 3 a.m.
This story was originally published January 17, 2019 at 7:42 AM.