As storm clouds gathered and a cool wind began to blow through
town, more than five thousand Pacific Gas and Electric customers in
east Hollister were left without electricity for nearly two hours
Friday afternoon after a transformer failed.
Homes, businesses and schools
– 5,400 customers total – lost their power just after 1pm.
Hollister – As storm clouds gathered and a cool wind began to blow through town, more than five thousand Pacific Gas and Electric customers in east Hollister were left without electricity for nearly two hours Friday afternoon after a transformer failed.
Homes, businesses and schools – 5,400 customers total – lost their power just after 1pm.
“It was mechanical failure … a transformer failed,” said PG&E spokesperson Jeff Smith. He said that there could be many causes for such a mechanical failure, but added the transformer probably just wore out.
“The age of the equipment is the most likely cause,” Smith said.
Power to the bulk of the customers was restored at 2:30pm, and minutes later power was restored to all customers affected by the outage.
Ladd Lane, Rancho San Justo and Sunnyslope schools were all without electricity for more than an hour, but the outage caused little disruption for students in classes.
“Fortunately it was the end of the day on Friday,” said Melinda Scott, principal of Sunnyslope school. She said some of the classrooms still had electricity and students in classes that didn’t were taken outside for physical education.
The power outage didn’t stop people from hanging out at Starbucks Coffee on Airline Highway, which lost its electricity for about 45 minutes.
“We sold as much coffee as we had brewed, and that was it,” said Manager Ignacio Vallejo. “We let people stay and enjoy the atmosphere. There were some people reading newspapers and relaxing.”
Frank Campanella, manager of the Nob Hill Foods in the same shopping center as Starbucks, said, “it seemed to get busier (after the outage), but people just came in to get what they need and got out quickly.”
Luke Roney covers education and agriculture for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at [email protected]
