Thousands without power in Santa Cruz County

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. (KION) - Thousands are without power in Santa Cruz County as PG&E crews work around the clock to restore it. Over 8,000 customers are currently impacted.

PG&E deployed over 200 workers to help with the situation. Of those personnel, some are from out of the area, coming to the Central Coast to provide mutual aid.

While widespread outages continue throughout the county, some homes in the Felton, Ben Lomond, and Lompico areas have already seen their power restored.

Yamir Hernandez and Rome Romero are among those in Lompico to regain power. When they were in the dark, they said the biggest challenge was not having access to the internet.

"Especially for work," Hernandez said. "When we have a chance to work from home, that is kind of the biggest thing."

But losing power wasn't the only challenge they faced. Hernandez and Romero were also in the process of moving into a new home when the storm struck.

"Between Sunnyvale and here, there were some small landslides that road crews had to clear out," Hernandez said. "The wet roads were definitely a challenge coming out here, especially with a moving van."

Hernandez and Romero returned to a home with no heat, but were able to use a wood burning stove to keep warm.

"It was a bit of a challenge, but we made it," Hernandez said.

While Hernandez and Romero had their power restored, some in the area could remain in the dark until Monday according to PG&E estimates.