UPDATE Jan. 19, 8:30 a.m.: Sacramento Municipal Utility District says there are 249 outages affecting 9,000 customers. The utility says daylight will help with restoring power.
SMUD also reports that the storm knocked down 200 lines and has a full slate of crews working to repair them. Some downed power poles are obstructing roads.
The National Weather Service expects a brief break in the weather, but predicts mountain snow showers and a possible thunderstorm Thursday.
A moderate to heavy storm system is likely to bring rain and winds again in Northern California on Friday.
As of 10:00 p.m. Wednesday, SMUD was reporting 482 outages affecting 36,809 customers. Crews are continuing to work to restore service.
Strong winds -- with gusts up to 60 mph at some locations -- continued to down trees and power lines throughout the area, leading to power outages and blocked roads.
@NWSSacramento / Twitter
As of 7:31 p.m. SMUD said that, due to the number of outages, the utility would not be able to provide estimates for when power would be returned. However an hour later the number of customers without power was down from more than 70,000 earlier in the evening.
As of 8:00 p.m. Wednesday the Sacramento Municipal Utility District reports 63,587 people are without power. The utility reported 366 outages throughout the city and county of Sacramento.
Bob Burns is with SMUD and says 40 mph winds and lightning in southern Sacramento County are responsible for many of the outages.
"One of the big issues tonight is that most of these are not real large outages, and so it's more difficult to attend to each one of them."
Burns says they had prepared for outages due to the incoming storms.
"We're going to have as many as 10 line crews working tonight, 15 trouble shoooters. It's all hands on deck, but they're spread out quite a bit."
SMUD's service area covers 900 square miles
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