Equipment failure leaves thousands without power in Fresno, Clovis

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- PG&E is working to restore power to thousands of customers in Fresno and Clovis after an underground equipment failure left them without electricity Sunday afternoon.

At one point, power was out for nearly 5,000 customers, but crews have restored power to certain areas by 11 p.m. It's not known when power will be fully restored.

Kim Williams and his daughter McKenna got in the car to escape their northeast Fresno home Sunday night after the power went out, leaving them with no air conditioning in triple digit heat.

"It's frustrating," they said. "You don't expect when it's 109 outside that you're gong to lose your air conditioning but it is what it is."

The outage comes as Fresno and Clovis are experiencing near record-breaking heat, with a forecasted high of 106 degrees.

"Really bad timing, and it sucks because we came from somewhere very nice and like mild weather and we came back it was like not so much," McKenna said.

As they took off, PG&E crews down the street were working to restore electricity affecting thousands. Even stores in a nearby shopping plaza like the Food 4 Less went black. It's why on a day when a lot of people grocery shop, the parking lot was empty.

"I wanted to stop by Food 4 Less to get some water and lights out nobody there," one shopper said. "Came over there to Walgreens and they're out too."

Angela Medellin suffered too. She tried returning the DVD she rented for the night but had no luck.

"I need to return this because I'm going to get a penalty," she said. "So, I'm going to go find another."

Officials say the outages are the result of an underground equipment failure that impacted areas in Fresno and Clovis, causing traffic lights and even street lights to go out.