Electric companies preparing for storm moving into Central California

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- As snow, rain and wind move into Central California, electric companies are preparing for the potential impacts.

"Through various parts of the central valley, what we're doing is moving and staging our crews in areas that we think might have the most significant impact as a result of a storm," said Jeff Smith, spokesperson for PG&E.

"Also having the crews ready and positioned in the areas where they may be most affected by the weather," said Gabriela Ornelas, spokesperson for Southern California Edison.

Southern California Edison says those areas include Shaver Lake and Tulare County, two areas that also experienced heavy snow and severe flooding during last year's atmospheric rivers.

Now, incorporating lessons learned from that time.

"Really making sure that we have backup equipment ready to go just in case there is any damage to our infrastructure. Or you know, power lines, we are making sure that we have that equipment available to quickly make those repairs," said Ornelas.

As the wind moved in Wednesday afternoon, we saw outages throughout Fresno County.

"Our crews are at the ready to respond 24 hours a day, seven days a week, when we do have a storm like this that is forecast, what we try to do is have a lot of crews resting now," said Smith.

Officials adding the best thing you can do, is prepare now.

"Make sure you have batteries on hand; make sure that you charge your cellphones ahead of time so that they are fully charged by the time the storm comes in," said Smith.

They also say if you see downed power lines, keep your distance because you never know when it's still energized, and mixing that in with the rain can be deadly.

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