San Francisco outages leaves 130,000 without power

A massive blackout knocked out power to 130,000 homes and businesses in San Francisco on Saturday, according to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

The power outage left much of the northern part of the city in darkness, starting in the Richmond and Presidio neighborhoods and areas around Golden Gate Park early in the morning and growing in size.

PG&E did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the cause of the outages. The power outage affected about one-third of utility customers in the city.

Social media and local media reported widespread restaurant and store closures and the darkening of street lights and Christmas decorations.

San Francisco's Department of Emergency Management reported on X that there were “significant traffic disruptions” across the city and urged residents to avoid non-essential travel and treat traffic signals as four-way stops.

The city's transit agencies said they were detouring some Muni bus stations and BART train stations due to the power outages.

At least some of the power outages were caused by a fire that broke out inside a steam generator.&Substation E at 8th and Mission streets, fire officials posted a message at X around 3:15 p.m.

Around 16:00 PG&E reported to X that it had stabilized the grid and did not expect additional customer outages. The company said it could not confirm whether power would be restored later Saturday.