The unprecedented power shutoff that much of the Bay Area and Northen California will face is happening in three phases. The first phase affected about 500,000 in the North Bay and in a separate portion of the Sierra Foothills. It began at midnight on Tuesday. The total number of customers region-wide without electricity is expected to reach 800,000.

Breakdown of impact in the Bay Area

Here are the latest numbers from PG&E, as of 1:45 p.m. Wednesday. These include PG&E customers currently impacted, or could be impacted. The total number is 215,925 PG&E customers.

Alameda County:

• 32,680 customers in Oakland, Castro Valley, Fremont, Union City, Berkeley, Hayward, San Leandro, Sunol, Pleasanton, and Livermore
• Medical Base: 872 customers

Contra Costa County

• 51,310 customers in San Ramon, Orinda, Lafayette, Moraga, Pinole, Richmond, Kensington, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Berkeley, Canyon, San Pablo, Pittsburg, Rodeo, Concord, Albany, Antioch, Martinez, and Rodeo
• Medical Base: 1,594 customers

Marin County

• 9,855 customers in Bolinas, Fairfax, Mill Valley, Muir Beach, Olema, Sausalito, and Stinson Beach
• Medical Base: 131 customers

Napa County

• 32,124 customers in Napa, Saint Helena, Calistoga, Angwin, Pope Valley, Rutherford, Oakville, Deer Park, Lake Berryessa, Yountville, and American Canyon
• Medical Base: 780 customers

San Mateo County

• 14,766 customers in Half Moon Bay, El Granada, Woodside, Moss Beach, Montara, Portola Valley, Pescadero, La Honda, Redwood City, San Gregorio, Loma Mar, San Mateo, Menlo Park, Emerald Hills, Pacifica, Princeton, Davenport, and Palo Alto
• Medical Base: 262 customers

Santa Clara County

• 38,250 customers in San Jose, Morgan Hill, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Redwood Estates, Milpitas, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Coyote, Gilroy, Mount Hamilton, Palo Alto, and Holy City
• Medical Base: 1,086 customers

Santa Cruz County

• 36,940 customers in Aptos, Boulder Creek, Watsonville, Scotts Valley, Soquel, Ben Lomond, Felton, Santa Cruz, Los Gatos, Mount Hermon, Brookdale, Davenport, Capitola, Freedom, La Selva Beach, Corralitos, Saratoga, and Bonny Doon
• Medical Base: 1,775 customers

Phase 1 

Start Time: 12 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9

The utility turned off power to approximately 500,000 customers and just before noon it was complete. Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Napa, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo, Yuba, Placer

Phase 2 

Start Time: Scheduled for Noon Wednesday, Oct. 9, but delayed until late afternoon/ early evening

An estimated 234,000 customers in the following counties will lose power: Alameda, Alpine, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Mariposa, Mendocino, San Joaquin, San Mateo and Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, and Toulomne.

Phase 3 

Start Time: TBA

PG&E says a third phase for the southernmost portions of its service area, impacting approximately 42,000 customers. Specific locations impacted are Alameda County, Alpine County, Contra Costa County, Mariposa County, San Joaquin County, San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz County, Stanislaus County, and Toulumne County.

The decision to turn off power was based on forecasts of dry, hot and windy weather including potential fire risk. Based on the latest weather forecasts and models, PG&E anticipates that this weather event will last through midday Thursday, with peak winds forecasted from Wednesday morning through Thursday morning and reaching 60 to 70 mph at higher elevations.

PG&E says it can take days for restoration, so customers should plan to be without power for up to seven days. 

The San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services advises approximately 15,000 PG&E customers will lose power between noon and 1 p.m., Wednesday. This includes the cities of Half Moon Bay and the towns of Portola Valley and Woodside. The unincorperated areas west of I-280 and to the Santa Cruz border includng Pescadero are also in the impacted zone. This Public Safety Power Shutoff is scheduled to last 24 hours.

At a news conference Wednesday evening PG&E said they have established a new website where customers can search and see maps of outages that may affect them. The utility said they would share more information about the site on their social media channels following the evening news conference. The new site uses a third-party system. Officials said they are confident the new site is robust and can handle the volume of customers. The site will launch with information on outages in the community, but within the next 24 hours, PG&E will work on the capability to give estimates of the time of power restoration.    

Officials from San Jose provide a 3:30 p.m. update, Wednesday (Video below):

PG&E holds 6 p.m. news conference in San Francisco (Video below): 

This developing story will be updated as new information is released.