Some North Bay PG&E customers still in dark 5 days after storm left trail of damage

SEBASTOPOL, Calif. (KGO) -- In the North Bay, some residents are still waiting for their power to be restored, almost five days after the epic winter storm left a trail of damage in its wake. The highest number of outages remain in Sonoma County where PG&E says it's working to get the lights back on.

"The storm knocked part of the Redwood tree trunk into our garage where the power line is," said Patrick Morse in Sebastopol.

Morse remembers the exact time the big storm left him powerless in Sebastopol.

"4:36 on Sunday," he said.

VIDEO: SJ elementary school in session without electricity as PG&E works to restore power


Morse's backyard Nest camera captured the moment part of a redwood tree toppled into power lines. It sent his family into backup generator purgatory.

It's been five days of living life off the grid as his neighbors have outages too.

"It's a hassle, you come home from work and you want to relax in a normal environment, that's not quite as possible," said Morse.

PG&E says its crews are working to replace power poles and lines in neighborhoods where access is challenging.

RELATED: Weather event largest to produce mass power outages in 30 years, PG&E says

"We have restored power since the beginning of the storm to 1.3 million customers but we still have many customers without power, several thousand in Sonoma County area," said PG&E Spokesperson Megan McFarland.

The utility offering impacted customers a credit on future bills.

"If you have been without power for 48 or more consecutive hours, you will receive an automatic credit between $25 and $100, it's one way we're trying to help our customers," said McFarland.

VIDEO: Massive 300-foot marina dock slams into eastern Contra Costa Co. properties, causing damage


Bartender Chelsea Smith is back at work at Petaluma's famous Washoe House where dollar bills decorate the ceiling.

"I need to make more Bloody Mary mix and cut limes and lemons because we had to dump it all," said Smith.

A power outage forced the historic watering hole to close Sunday but as of Thursday, the power is back on.

"For us the only time we close is Christmas, so for us to be closed for four days, it's been really rough," said Smith.

But the news isn't as good for Morse with PG&E telling him it could be Monday before his power is restored.

"Three more days and after the Super Bowl, we won't be watching it here," said Morse.

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