A massive outage knocked out power to 130,000 homes and businesses in San Francisco, California, in the US on Saturday, leaving millions without electricity after a fire broke out at a substation, according to several local reports.
The power failure left a large swath of the northern part of the city in the dark, beginning with the Richmond and Presidio neighbourhoods and areas around Golden Gate Park in the early afternoon and growing in size, according to The Associated Press.
San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management confirmed on X that there was a large power outage affecting parts of San Francisco, including Richmond, Sunset, Presidio, and Golden Gate Park.
The blackout, occurring in a city of about 800,000 people, prompted the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management to advise citizens to call 9-1-1 only for life-threatening emergencies, avoid unnecessary travel, and treat downed traffic signals as four-way stops.
Residents were also urged to keep refrigerator and freezer doors shut and to switch off major appliances to avoid potential power surges during the outage.
MNA