A new storm means deja vu for Monterey area communities that just came out of an extended power outage.

Only about one day after some Carmel and Pebble Beach residents found relief from a power outage that lasted four days, their power was back out again as another atmospheric weather brought high winds to the region. As of 3:30pm, today, Tuesday, March 14, nearly 20,000 Monterey County PG&E customers are without power. 

The night of March 9 there were around 37,000 customers without power in the areas of Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Carmel, Carmel Valley and other points south. The main problem was damage to two main transmission lines along Del Monte Avenue in Monterey. Those lines deliver power from outside of the county to a major portion of the region.

The transmission lines were repaired by Saturday morning, bringing power back to large parts of Monterey. Some neighborhoods were out again a couple of hours later; by Saturday night neighborhoods in Monterey and P.G. were lighting back up. Carmel and Pebble Beach remained dark.

As winds picked up on Tuesday morning, trees began falling across the southern portion of the Monterey Peninsula taking out more power lines. The winds and falling trees also hampered the efforts of PG&E crews to make repairs, according to Stewart Roth, PG&E senior public safety specialist, who spoke to reporters on a Monterey County press briefing Tuesday morning.

Roth said that safety regulations prevent crew members from going up in buckets or up power poles in high risk weather situations. It could mean delays in making repairs until winds subside.