ARVIN, Calif. (KERO) — The power is still out in Arvin following a lightning strike.
23ABC confirmed with PG&E that lightning struck a substation near Arvin on Wednesday night with the resulting outage impacting about 6,000 customers. PG&E’s Katie Allen says they acted quickly restoring power to a couple thousand customers by Thursday afternoon.
Restoration efforts continued for the remaining 3,300 customers.
Initially, PG&E told 23ABC Thursday they anticipated power to be restored by noon Friday. However, in a statement released by the City of Arvin, power is now not expected to be restored until 7 p.m. Friday night.
"The majority of the City of Arvin remains among the 3,308 customers impacted by the widespread power outage. The official statement from PG&E states that due to challenges during restoration efforts, the estimated time of full restoration has been moved to 7:00 pm today (June 24th). Power to customers will be restored in phases throughout the day as the equipment is reenergized."
As a result, the City of Arvin is keeping its cooling center open, which has moved from its original location in city hall.
"Due to the widespread power outage within the city, we have opened an emergency cooling center. Kern county emergency services is partnering with us to meet the needs of our community. We urge all Arvin community members without power to utilize the cooling center at Bear Mountain Elementary School cafeteria, located at 1501 Hood Street, Arvin, CA 93203. This location will remain open until services are fully restored. The space will offer seating, water, and air-conditioning. The facility cannot accommodate pets."
