Massive power outage muddies Muni, BART commutes
A major power outage is shutting down the north side of the city today, forcing the closure of Montgomery Street station for about two hours until a generator was brought in. In the photo above by @cgoodyjenks, the 1-California buses were stalled waiting for the power to come back on. PG&E said via Twitter that crews are working on the issue and expects power to be restored to “most” customers by 1 p.m.
Curbed posted some haunting photos of Montgomery Station before the power was back on.
The San Francisco Fire Department confirmed that the cause was an equipment fire at a PG&E substation in the Tenderloin on 600 Larkin Street, reports CBS Local.
The city’s Department of Emergency Management said the outages were concentrated in the northern part of San Francisco. The fire department responded to at least 20 reports of people stuck in downtown elevators.
Nearly 100,000 customers were without power in the city at the height of the outage. California Pacific Medical Center was on backup power and had been forced to shut down its operating rooms.
Elsewhere, stores and usually busy cafes were closed, and Starbucks handed out free drinks downtown while everyone waits for the power to be restored.
Around 11:30 a.m., crews reopened the dimly lit Montgomery Street station though the escalators and elevators were still out of service, reports SFBay’s Jerold Chinn. (Enter “so what else is new” joke here.)
Inside the dimly lit #MuniMetro Montgomery Station. #SFMUNI #sfpoweroutage @sfbay pic.twitter.com/5XM6UEp14Z
— Jerold Chinn 🚃🚈🚍 (@Jerold_Chinn) April 21, 2017
SFGate reported that cable cars were down and were served by motor coaches, but at least one person on Twitter says that cable cars were still keeping on.
Keep us in the loop! @munidiaries is listening.