UPDATE: PG&E told 23ABC that this incident caused outages that affected 2,470 customers. As of 9:00 p.m. Sunday, they say around 1,000 are still without power.
High wind gusts were felt all across the county on Sunday. In Bakersfield, a neighborhood on Palm Ave. saw the impact of the wind first-hand. PG&E was called after a redwood fell into power lines, interrupting service to the area.
“Access is a big challenge in this industry. Usually storms here in Bakersfield—wind storms like this—we do get a lot of calls,” said Omar Moran, owner of Western Tree Care Corporation.
Omar Moran says his crew got around six calls reporting fallen trees on Sunday, but this particular one on Palm Avenue took priority. The urgency was mainly due to the redwood tree that was suspended in the power line, however, other trees in the yard were at risk of falling due to the gusty winds.
On Sunday afternoon, the tree stayed suspended in the line for hours until the crew was able to safely cut it down around 4:30 p.m. It caused power to be interrupted in that area, and according to PG&E, around 15,000 total customers were affected by power outages in Kern County, including around 10,000 in metropolitan Bakersfield Sunday evening. According to PG&E’s website, outages can be reported online , or by calling 1-800-743-5002.