San Francisco continued to recover Sunday after a massive PG&E power outage that left roughly one-third of the city without electricity at its peak, disrupting daily life, shutting down small businesses, and forcing families to throw away food just days before Christmas.
PG&E officials said more than 130,000 customers lost power Saturday after a fire broke out at the Mission Substation — about one-third of the utility’s San Francisco customers. While power has since been restored to most areas, about 13,000 customers remained without electricity as of Sunday afternoon. PG&E says it does not suspect sabotage or malicious activity and has not yet explained how or why the fire started.
In the Richmond District, the outage brought traffic to a standstill as darkened intersections forced SFMTA workers to manually direct cars in the rain. Nearby businesses, including gas stations and grocery stores, were forced to close.
At 25th and Clement Produce Market, owner Spiros Johnson said the prolonged outage wiped out thousands of dollars in perishable inventory.
“This morning, we had to just get rid of everything, chicken, meat, fish,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the losses extended beyond spoiled meat, hitting his business during one of the busiest weekends of the year.
“It’s not only the loss of the meat,” he said. “But it’s the loss of revenue. And this is one of our busiest weekends just before the Christmas holiday.”
Other business owners tried to minimize losses by giving away food that was still safe to eat. Ice cream shops, however, had no such option.
“You can’t sell it. All the ice cream is just done,” said Mahgoub Elnour, owner of Bourbon County Market, as he pointed out bags of melted ice cream.
Residents were also forced to throw away holiday groceries.
“We have to throw out a full refrigerator of food. So that’s frustrating,” said Richmond District resident Greg Ogarrio.
Saturday night, large swaths of San Francisco were plunged into darkness, creating an eerie and unsettling atmosphere in affected neighborhoods.
“In the dark, it’s dead quiet, and that is almost unnerving in a sense,” Ogarrio said.
Another resident, Skylar McAdow, said the size and length of the outage were shocking.
“Total shock, it’s so surprising that this is even possible in today’s day and age,” McAdow said.
PG&E spokesperson Melissa Subbotin said crews were still working to restore power to all customers.
“There was extensive damage following a fire inside our substation. Our goal is to continue working until every customer has been restored,” Subbotin said.
On Sunday afternoon, Mayor Daniel Lurie toured the Richmond District and met with business owners who stayed open using flashlights or backup generators. He described the disruption as significant and said weekend closures could cost businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“We are definitely going to have to sit down with PG&E after this and assess what went wrong with this fire at the substation. We’re still looking for information from them,” Lurie said.
Some businesses without power operated on a cash-only basis, trying to sell inventory before it spoiled. Esa Yonn-Brown, owner of Butter Love Bakeshop, said she reached out to the neighborhood for help.
“I posted a plea with the neighborhood to please come support us and make sure that this doesn’t end up in the trash because I just hate the idea of food getting wasted,” Yonn-Brown said.
By early Sunday afternoon, power was restored to parts of the Richmond District, drawing cheers from residents when lights flickered back on. For others, the restoration came too late.
Back at 25th and Clement Produce Market, Johnson said the damage was already done — but he hopes the lights stay on as more rainstorms move into the Bay Area.
“We’ve been on the corner for 33 years, I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s very upsetting,” he said.
PG&E says businesses that lost products or revenue may file a claim with the utility, but must provide documentation and evidence showing what was lost.
More from CBS News
