SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Municipal Utilities District continues to work around the clock to restore power to people who are still in the dark, days after a New Year's Eve storm.
It's a race against the clock as they also prepare for more rain and strong winds.
"We want our customers to be aware, we expect a lot of outages," said Lindsay Van Laningham, spokesperson for SMUD.
Van Laningham said by 1 p.m. on Wednesday crews had restored power to 99% of customers. The few hundred people still in the dark are individuals with more severe electrical damage, like broken power poles that take a long time to fix. She said it takes eight hours just to put up one power pole.
In an effort to help the most vulnerable or elderly customers, SMUD teams handed out emergency supplies.
"They've been handing out batteries, food and blankets," said Van Laningham.
More than 100 power poles were damaged in the last storm, which is why SMUD brought in extra workers.
"If they see down powerlines, you should assume they are live and call for help," said Van Laningham.
The priority is public safety first and then power restoration. SMUD said during severe weather, they work in this order: remove down powerlines, then restore power to hospitals and drainage pumps, and after that, they will repair damage to customers, prioritizing by the number of customers impacted.
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