Thousands without power in Madera County after lightning storm. PG&E investigating cause

PG&E is in inspection-and-patrol mode following a series of outages affecting residents in Madera County near Oakhurst and Coarsegold after Thursday’s lightning storm.

The outages began around 8:45 p.m. Thursday, according to company’s online reporting map. They were reported in areas north and south of Coarsegold, including an area running west toward Eastman Lake.

Some 6,000 customers were without electricity Friday morning, PG&E spokesman Denny Boyles said.

Power was expect to be restored by 10 a.m. Friday according to the outage map, but the company must do inspection checks first, Boyle said.

“We are investigating the cause of the outages, but we know that due to fire risk we will have to patrol the entire length of all the affected circuits before power can be restored,” he said.

Those in the area can expect to see and hear low flying helicopters as part of those patrols.

Thursday night’s storm came through the Valley and into the foothills, causing lightning and thunder but leaving little precipitation.

This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 9:54 AM.