Power Restored for Nearly All Customers in San Diego County

Approximately 3,500 customers were reported to be without power in various parts of San Diego county as of 1:40 p.m. Wednesday. Nearly all those customers had power restored by 3:20 p.m., SDG&E reported. A few outages remained in the north Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Green Valley, San Pasqual and Rancho Penasquitos areas.

SDG&E did not shut off power to any customers in the county, spokewoman Erin Coller told Patch on Wednesday.

The National Weather Service issued the warning Tuesday and on Wednesday  extended it to 6 p.m..

San Diego Gas and Electric notified some customers in Ramona, Santa Ysabel, Wynola and other areas Tuesday that their power could go out Wednesday due to high winds.

"We encouraged customers to prepare with flashlights, extra batteries and a phone that doesn't require electricity," said spokeswoman April Bolduc on Wednesday. "We've staged crews throughout the areas of highest winds, and of course that changes throughout the day."

Bolduc said that because the Weather Service re-evaluated the winds and they were not expected to go over 50 mph, the conditions were not expected to exceed the design limits of SDG&E's overhead electricity system.

"The design standards are 56 mph for wood poles and 85 mph for steel poles," she said. SDG&E has replaced some of its wood poles with steel poles throughout San Diego county.

Areas in San Diego county that had power outages included: Green Valley, Poway, San Pasqual, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Penasquitos, Lakeside, Cuyamaca, Descanso, Santee, El Cajon, Fletcher Hills, parts of southeastern Alpine, Viejas, northeastern Fallbrook, Rincon, Pala and Bonsall. Ramona had a power outage Tuesday night.

The cause of many of these outages is listed as "suspected problem in the overhead electrical system." SDG&E's Erin Coller told Patch that some of the problems could have been caused by the winds but the exact nature of the causes is still under investigation.

To see the SDG&E matrix of wind conditions and power outage status in San Diego county, click here.

It was reported on Tuesday night as a problem with the overhead electrical system.

To report an outage, call SDG&E at 800-611-7343.