Point Reyes Light - October 28, 2004

Lightning blacks out foot of Tomales Bay

By Jacob Resneck

A lightning strike on a transformer in Olema’s PG&E substation at 12:24 a.m. Tuesday morning blacked out more than 2,400 households and businesses at the foot of Tomales Bay, most until at least 2 p.m.

Some Inverness residents didn’t get their power back until 11:15 a.m. Wednesday – a day and a half after the lightning bolt hit.

PG&E spokesman Lloyd Coker said repair crews working through the early hours were able to get 126 households in Olema back online by 4 a.m. while 1,900 households and businesses in and around Point Reyes Station didn’t regain power until after 2 p.m.

"The work crews replaced insulators and switches," Coker told The Light. Coker explained that repair crews thought they had the problem fixed when they reset the electrical grid at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Circuits powering Inverness, however, failed, keeping 840 households in the black for another day, the spokesman said.

"There must’ve been a problem downstream, a residual [that was] still affected by the lightning," he said, adding that the same storm blacked out 68 households in Nicasio and 36 in Lagunitas, both of which got their power back at 4 a.m. Tuesday.

SBC sent trucks around Olema, Point Reyes Station, and Olema, recharging the telecom system’s backup batteries, which kept telephone service uninterrupted while PG&E repaired the transformers.

Many businesses without generators in Point Reyes Station, Olema, and Inverness, closed their doors until power was restored although West Marin School remained open, depending on windows for light.

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