UPDATE (12:11 PM): PG&E said in a statement that power outage affecting Arvin was due to a lightning striking "a large piece of equipment in a substation near Arvin." PG&E said power is expected to be restored by noon Friday, June 24th.
Here is the full statement from PG&E:
"The safety of our customers, their families, and the communities we serve is our most important job. We understand how troubling it is for customers to go without power for extended periods of time. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate the customers patience as we work to safely restore power in Arvin.
"PG&E crews continue to work around the clock to repair damage from the June 22nd lightning storm event in Kern County. Just after 5pm on Wednesday, June 22 lightning struck a large piece of equipment in a substation near Arvin causing an outage impacting 6,189 customers. Overnight crews restored power to 1,162 customers. As of today (Thursday, 6/23 at 9 a.m.) 5,027 customers remain without power in Arvin. Due to extensive damage to our equipment we anticipate all remaining customers to be restored by noon tomorrow (Friday, June 24).
"Despite our best efforts, no utility can ever be completely interruption-proof especially during an extreme weather event. Kern County experienced more than 600 cloud to ground lightning strikes below 3,000 feet during the unprecedented weather event. We are partnering with community, city and county officials to support customers in the area."
PG&E is reporting a large power outage Thursday morning in the Lamont and Arvin area.
The area affected stretches from just south of Hwy. 119 in Lamont to near Herring Road in Arvin.
According to PG&E, more than 5,000 customers are affecting in the area with the outage reported just after 5 p.m. Wednesday night.
PG&E's website says a preliminary determination is the outage was caused by an equipment issue. The company is working on repairs and there's no estimate when power will be restored.
