Sponsored link
Thursday, July 3, 2025

Sponsored link

PG&E can’t handle a little rain

A little water and PG&E's system starts to melt down
A little water and PG&E’s system starts to melt down

By Tim Redmond

DECEMBER 12, 2014 – I always tell me kids that I had to walk to school all winter in the deep snow, in bare feet, ten miles, uphill both ways – and then walk another ten miles to work in the salt mines after classes ended. The story gets more involved every time I tell it. They are not amused.

But the reality is, I did walk to school in the snow (well, less than a mile, but still…) And the schools in North Tarrytown, NY only closed when the drifts were so deep that the buses couldn’t get through. On the East Coast, there are storms in the winter; people generally go about their business.

I know SFUSD exercised an abundance of caution yesterday when all public schools were shut down. City College cancelled all classes. Those were probably prudent moves, since the news media whipped us all into such a frenzy over “stormageddon.”

What actually happened: It rained.

Yeah, a few low-lying areas flooded, as happens when it rains a lot after not raining a lot for a long time. But stormageddon? As my colleague Tom Temprano notes, it was more like gentledownpourageddon.

And still: Power went out all over the city. More than 60,000 PG&E customers had no electricity all day. And that’s crazy.

PG&E knew the storm was coming. This is a big corporation, with lots of employees. The feared gusting high winds never appeared, so there weren’t a lot of trees falling and power lines crashing. Some, not a lot.

In San Francisco, it just rained. And the power company couldn’t keep the lights on.

According to PG&E, a substation near Civic Center blew out. Why? Because it was raining. I mean, is our private-power infrastructure really that weak? PG&E can’t even handle a decent downpour? We have to be in a state of perpetual drought or we can’t have stable electricity?

Muni ran buses in the rain. The Board of Supervisors held hearings. Most (public) city business went on just fine. And yet, we continue to entrust one of the most crucial parts of our city to a company that melts when it rains.

Tim Redmond
Tim Redmond
Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit here. We also invite you to join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Sponsored link

Sponsored link
Sponsored link

Latest

What to see at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival this summer ☀️

Celebrating 25 years of free, accessible and artistically excellent programs in downtown SF!

Drama Masks: In ‘Aztlán,’ gripped by intense forces beyond control

Magic melds carceral with mystical. Plus: Enthralling 'The Last Goat' presents Ancient Greek tale that does much with little.

Screen Grabs: Caught up in the raptors, again

'Jurassic' holiday weekend genre kicks. Plus: Fraenkel Film Fest, Bill Gunn and Mikio Naruse retrospectives, more.

Wiener-Newsom CEQA ‘reform’ is a dangerous fraud

Lithium battery factories without environmental review. Miami Beach development along the coast. And it's not going to make housing more affordable

You might also likeRELATED