Features

Power Outage Hits 3,880 PG&E Users

By Richard Brenneman
Thursday May 28, 2009 - 06:58:00 PM

A power outage on the Berkeley-Oakland border near the Claremont Hotel darkened nearly 4,000 homes Wednesday, reports Pacific Gas & Electric. 

Corporate representative Tamar Sarkissian said the outage, which began at 11:53 a.m., initially hit 3,889 homes and businesses, including Berkeley’s Summit Alta Bates Medical Center, where emergency generators immediately restored power. 

Power to half of the darkened customers was restored by 12:30 p.m., Sarkissian said, with all but the hospital back on line an hour later. 

“We’re working on repairs as we speak,” she said later Wednesday afternoon. 

The cause appeared to be a fault in an underground cable, and crews were working to replace it as the Daily Planet went to press.