"The damage from the fire in our substation was extensive, and the repairs and safe restoration will be complex," the Pacific Gas and Electric Company shared as it continued to restore service.
A massive outage left more than 130,000 homes and businesses without power in San Francisco.
On Saturday, Dec. 20, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company experienced a power outage around 12 p.m. local time that left several neighborhoods in downtown San Francisco without electricity.
"We are working with first responders and city officials on an outage in #SanFrancisco affecting 130,000 customers," the utility company wrote on X at the time. "We will share more information as it becomes available."
During the hours when the city was without power and largely in the dark, driverless vehicles were also shutting down in the middle of the road due to a lack of operating traffic lights, creating traffic jams throughout the city.
In videos shared on social media, Waymo driverless cars could be seen scattered throughout the roads and stuck in the middle of intersections, flashing their hazards while completely motionless.
A Waymo spokesperson told CNBC that the company will be suspending its services in the wake of the outage.
"We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services in the San Francisco Bay Area due to the widespread power outage," they said. "Our teams are working diligently and in close coordination with city officials, and we are hopeful to bring our services back online soon. We appreciate your patience and will provide further updates as soon as they are available."
Mayor Daniel Luri also urged residents to stay indoors and avoid travel during the outage.
"Muni lines and traffic signals are impacted by the power outage," he wrote on Instagram. "If you don't need to travel tonight, please stay off the roads and stay inside."
"We will be expanding officer presence at intersections and corridors to ensure the safety of those still on the road," the mayor continued. "We remain in close contact with PG&E as they restore power and will keep everybody posted as work continues."
The following morning, PG&E shared in an update that power had been restored to about 110,000 customers as of 7:30 a.m. Hours later, the company said in another update that approximately 17,000 remain without electric service.
"The damage from the fire in our substation was extensive, and the repairs and safe restoration will be complex," PG&E wrote in a separate post. "We will continue working until all customers are restored. We encourage customers to be safe."