San Francisco Plunged into Darkness: Widespread Power Outages Cripple Holiday Shopping

• San Francisco faced widespread power outages on a busy holiday shopping Saturday, affecting approximately 130,000 Pacific Gas and Electric Company customers.
• The outages began in the morning and spread, with an afternoon fire at a PG&E substation identified as a cause for part of the disruption.
• The power failures severely disrupted local transit systems, traffic lights, and forced stores to close during a critical retail period.
• Bay Area Rapid Transit trains bypassed some downtown stations, and Mayor Daniel Lurie urged residents to stay off roads.
• Pacific Gas and Electric Company stabilized the grid and is working towards power restoration, though no confirmation yet for Saturday.

Why It Matters: Widespread power outages crippled San Francisco during holiday shopping, disrupting transit and businesses.