CBS Sacramento – by Leigh Martinez
STOCKTON (CBS13) — A power surge left thousands without power in Stockton on Monday after smart meters on their homes exploded.
The explosions started at around 8:30 a.m. after a truck crashed into a utility pole, causing a surge.
When the customers in more than 5,000 homes get their power back on will depend on how badly damaged their meters are.
Neighbors in the South Stockton area described it as a large pop, a bomb going off, and strong enough to shake a house.
“The neighbor across the street, his meter doesn’t look as bad but his receptacles are all blackened.” said Brad Abernathy.
PG&E says a dump truck crashed near its Alpine substation on Arch Road. When the truck hit the utility pole, the top wire fell onto the bottom wire, creating a power surge.
“The top lines are considered our freeways. The bottom lines are our distribution lines taking power directly to homes,” said PG&E spokeswoman Brandi Ehlers. “So when the two collide, they’re at different voltages and the higher voltage wins out, causing an overload.”
Power is expected to be restored to most customers by Monday evening, but the damage varies by home.
LOL one or two days without power gee Francis here in Florida left my home without power for almost two weeks. It was a very enlightening experience. We sure found out how much we depend on electricity for even simple things. We sure wished we had gas appliances when this occurred.
You can not cook.
Vacuum.
Wash your clothes (well by hand and in cold water, who wants to do that?)
Turn on a light and forget a candle it doesn’t do what it shows in the movies.
Have a nice cold drink
No radio, unless battery operated.
No TV for those addicted like my neighbor.
No internet, news or alerts (we got two more hurricanes at that time).
Cold showers no fun.
No gas for the car either.
No store operations except for small mom an pop working out of a cash box with paper and pencil close by.
No fans, heat or air conditioning (not so good in August in Florida).
Well you get it.
Two whole days give me a break.
I am smiling