The increase in wind speeds is affecting people living in and visiting the Central Coast.
Oceano Dunes visitors were treated to sand flying and gusty winds Monday.
“I wore sunglasses and a lot of sand got in my eyes,” said Alex Stevens, an Oceano visitor.
“It was just windy, but you can come prepared,” said Mikayla Stevens, an Oceano visitor.
And while the weather was no surprise to some, visitors said the dunes were much less crowded than usual.
“My mom checks the weather and it’s the beach, it’s pretty windy, so I expected it,” said Mikayla Stevens.
“It is not as crowded as it used to be in the summer, so you get to come out here and enjoy the beach with not a lot of people out here,” said Alex Stevens.
PG&E says they are prepared for the high winds.
“With strong winds, PG&E is always concerned about trees and tree branches blowing into our power lines and that’s why we are continually working on our vegetation management to clearing spaces around trees,” said PG&E Communications Representative Mark Mesesan.
PG&E is warning people to keep an eye out for power lines.
“If you see any low hanging or downed power lines, treat them as if they’re energized because they are extremely dangerous,” said Mesesan.
PG&E says they are expecting to see more outages elsewhere in the state.
“Most of the greater activity is up north where we expect to maybe see more outages than we do down here in the south,” said Mesesan.
The company says they have a plan in place for outages that take place on the Central Coast.
“We have opened up emergency operation centers in the northern California area, specifically in San Jose,” said Mesesan. “We have not done that in this area yet, but we are prepared to if conditions change.”
If there is an outage, power outage updates can be received from the PG&E outage information line and outage map online and can get alerts through email text and phone.
If you see a downed power line, PG&E says to call the police and the PG&E hotline immediately.
