More than 2,000 Mill Valley customers got their electricity back Thursday morning, July 16, after PG&E ended a 16-hour Public Safety Power Shutoff driven by dry offshore winds gusting to 36 mph on Mount Tamalpais.
The utility cut power at about 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 15, and restored it at about 10 a.m. Thursday. No further shutoffs are planned for Marin County, PG&E spokesperson Denny Boyles told the Marin Independent Journal on Thursday.
"On the horizon," Boyles said, there are no additional outages in the works.
What happened
PG&E had warned as early as Tuesday, July 14, that a shutoff could begin at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The actual cutoff came four hours later than the earliest estimate. The affected zone covered the Blithedale Canyon, Cascade Canyon, Middle Ridge, and Muir Woods Park neighborhoods, plus the western edge of downtown Mill Valley, according to PG&E's outage map. Old Mill Park, the Mill Valley Public Library, Throckmorton Theatre, and several stores along Throckmorton Avenue all lost power.
The library, which has no backup generator, closed for the duration of the outage, the city confirmed in an alert posted Wednesday evening.
Steven Torrence, director of the Marin County Office of Emergency Management, said in a county news release issued July 14, that the county was "mobilizing our resources in direct coordination with PG&E and the City of Mill Valley," with a focus on seniors and residents with medical needs who depend on electricity.
Why PG&E pulled the switch
National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Gass said gusts reached 36 mph on Mount Tamalpais overnight Wednesday into Thursday. Earlier Wednesday afternoon, NWS meteorologist Rachel Kennedy had reported 26 mph gusts on the mountain, with stronger winds expected after dark.
The combination of high temperatures, low humidity, and those gusts pushed fire risk high enough for PG&E to act. Marin was one of 10 California counties to receive shutoff warnings, according to the Marin Independent Journal. It was also the second time in about a month that PG&E resorted to safety shutoffs statewide, Insurance Journal reported.
The Mill Valley Briefing, a local newsletter, reported that PG&E's post-season filings to state regulators show no Marin County shutoffs between 2021 and 2025, which would make this week's event the first for the area in at least four years.
How the community responded
During the outage, a Community Resource Center opened in the Mill Valley Community Center parking lot at 180 Camino Alto, offering wireless internet, cellphone charging, restrooms, and bottled water.
Corte Madera and Tiburon were not in the shutoff zone. Both towns issued informational alerts directing residents to county resources.
What residents should know
Residents can sign up for future shutoff alerts through AlertMarin at AlertMarin.org, or text ENROLL to 97633 for PG&E's ZIP code notifications.
Seniors and vulnerable residents can reach Marin County Health and Human Services at 415-473-INFO.
