SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Latest on power outages in California (all times local):
9:05 a.m.
Residents in Sonoma in California's wine country are swarming to the few businesses opened in the town's square amid a power outage expected to last for days. — a bakery with lines out the door and a bar was lit with lanterns early Wednesday.
Pacific Gas and shut off power to more than half a million customers in Northern California in the biggest planned shut off in the state's history. The utility said Wednesday it is trying to prevent its equipment from starting wildfires during hot, windy weather.
At the Basque Boulangerie Cafe, workers used battery-powered lights and kept track of cash-only sales by listing them on a sheet of paper. John Vitale says he was happy to find out the cafe had opened after employees prepared the outage by baking bread and pastries.
Vitale tells KTVU-TV he drove around Sonoma looking for a place to get breakfast and feels fortunate to have found coffee and pastries.
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7:30 a.m.
The California Transportation Department says two tunnels in the San Francisco Bay Area that depend on electricity to function will remain open during a power outage affecting a large swath of Northern California.
Caltrans crews worked through the night to install generators at the Caldecott Tunnel linking the East Bay to San Francisco and the Tom Lantos Tunnel on State Route 1 in Pacifica.
The agency says the generators should be working by midday Wednesday when Pacific Gas and Electric is expected to shut off power in the Bay Area.
The utility began cutting out power to hundreds of thousands of people just after midnight Wednesday to prevent what the utility called an unprecedented wildfire danger.
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6:30 a.m.
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