NEVADA CITY, Calif. — Some Nevada City residents and businesses will not see their power back on from the last power shutoff as another looms for the area on Tuesday.
A family of four living in the city said that this whole ordeal has been challenging to say the least.
“You can’t do laundry,” said Heather Foust, Nevada City resident. “You can’t use your refrigerator. You can’t use your air conditioning if it’s hot.”
They left the area during the first power shutoff. After they realized the shutoffs will be part of the new normal, they got a generator to power their refrigerator and their well for water.
“One of the biggest things is keeping the lights and the refrigerator on,” said Brian Foust. “TVs for kids. It’s hard to entertain four kids with no power these days.”
Their other child, 15-year-old Gracie, is playing catch-up with her homework with school closed.
“It’s hard when you don’t have school and you have all these things that have to get done,” said Gracie. “I’m gonna get behind if this keeps happening.”
The biggest challenge on the top of the Foust’s minds is Brian’s business. With the power out, the machines have stopped at his sheet metal company.
“Today I had to actually buy from another shop and buy products we typically build to fulfill orders,” Brian said. “We had to buy it for more than what we sell it for.”
Generators to power all these machines are not an option financially. It would cost at minimum $100,000 and he keeps losing money with each blackout.
“It hasn’t been long enough to pencil out but it’s in the thousands a day of not being able to do anything at the shop,” Brian said.
The effects of the blackouts are making them consider that moving may be the best decision for the family.
“If there’s enough proof there that there’s not gonna be a resolution to this anytime soon, it may be enough to push me out of California,” Brian said.
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