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1000s Without Power After Windstorm In Santa Cruz Mountains

SANTA CRUZ (CBS SF / AP) -- Around 5,700 customers remain without power Saturday evening in the Santa Cruz area, where high winds have caused extensive damage to power lines since Wednesday.

PG&E has mobilized 90 additional work crews to help restore power in the hardest hit areas of Santa Cruz County, including Boulder Creek, Felton and Scotts Valley, said spokesman J.D. Guidi. The number of affected customers has dropped from 9,850 shortly before 10 a.m. Saturday and as many as half of the remaining customers should have their power back by morning, Guidi said.

"We appreciate our customers patience with these extended outages and we're doing everything we can to get the lights back on as quickly and safely as possible," he said.

In total, PG&E officials said around 555,000 customers were affected by this week's wind storms.

In the Bay Area, most wind-related outages have been resolved, Guidi said, but some new outages have occurred.

Two outages occurred in San Francisco Saturday evening. One outage caused by a downed wire occurred around 5 p.m. in the South of Market area, initially affecting 3,279 customers. Another outage occurred in the Marina around 5:52 p.m., affecting around 435 customers.

As of 6:30 p.m., there were around 1000 customers in San Francisco without power.

Elsewhere in the Bay Area, there were around 435 customers without power in the South Bay.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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