More than 130,000 households and businesses remained without powermainly in the northwest of San Francisco causing panic and traffic problems in the northern city California, United States,
The lack of electricity completely paralyzed vital means of transport, such as: autonomous carsan additional problem, particularly in the Richmond, Sunset, Presidio and Golden Gate Park areas, authorities said.
Early on Sunday morning, More than 29,000 people were still without poweraccordingly PowerOutageUS.
Forced citywide outages Waymo is ending its self-driving car serviceAutonomous vehicles are reportedly stalling in the middle of the road SF Gate and play New York Post.
🚨🚨🚨The largest power outage in San Francisco history leads to the closure of the Golden Gate Bridge
The power goes out in the middle of a rainy day, just in time to ruin vacation plans and trap people on broken trains.
Public transportation? Dead. Bay Area Rapid Transit stations were closed. Muni and the… pic.twitter.com/bnaEVYWkPw
– kayvan sabouri (@KayvanSabouri) December 21, 2025
“We have temporarily suspended our transportation services due to the widespread outage in San Francisco,” a Waymo spokesperson told the outlet.
“We are focused on keeping our passengers safe and ensuring emergency personnel have the free access they need to do their jobs.”
The company Operations stopped around 8 p.m. because vehicles could not move without traffic lights. Residents shared images of parked Waymo vehicles with their emergency lights on.
At least four vehicles were parked in the middle of an intersection with their emergency lights on, causing a major accident Traffic chaos on a busy corner in the North Beach neighborhoodaccording to a video published in X.
Total darkness in parts of San Francisco as power outage lasts more than 6 hours pic.twitter.com/MobJBhLUTS
– SPIRITUAL STATE OF THE BAY AREA (@YayAreaNews) December 21, 2025
On the other hand, according to media images, a passenger was stranded in one of the autonomous vehicles during the power outage.
Some of the cuts were attributed to a Fire that broke out at a Pacific Gas and Electric substation on Saturday afternoon at 8th and Mission streets in downtown San Francisco.
Firefighters went to the substation and contained the fire with carbon dioxide.
Cutting began at 9:40 a.m. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. was aware of this and said crews were aware of it I’m working on restoring power.
Shortly after 10 p.m., power returned to around 90,000 customers. local time, the government announced. Mayor Daniel Lurie in X
On Sunday, emergency services continued working on the remaining customers. “For those of you who don’t have power, we want to make sure you stay safe,” Lurie said.
The 48-year-old Democrat advised residents to check on their neighbors but remember to blow out any candles they may have used before going to bed.
“I know there’s a lot going on, but people really gave it their all tonight and will continue to do so all night long,” he added.
Frustrated customers protested hours-long power outages and criticized progressive policies that appear to be taking precedence over infrastructure improvements.
San Francisco, CA (DEC 19, 2025)
Now videos are pouring in about the absolute debacle that a growing group of Waymos caused a power outage at an intersection. If you have a video from this event, please leave it in the comments. The DM’s are full 😳@grok How long did it take… pic.twitter.com/BmTbecveuc– No safe words (@Cyber_Trailer) December 21, 2025
“I’ve been sitting here for hours in the dark with no cell service (I’m in my car), but at least San Francisco has a repair fund now!” wrote one person on X.
“We were without power for more than 12 hours but it finally came back on at 12:30pm on Sunday. It is completely unacceptable that there is no reliable electricity in San Francisco. PG&E needs to strengthen and obsolete San Francisco’s power grid to avoid blackouts,” wrote another, extremely indignant.
“That’s a shame. Electricity rates are the most expensive in the United States. and we can’t fix the power grid,” another chimed in. “Ten fucking hours and still no power,” a fourth shouted.
Police presence has been increased in areas without power to “ensure the safety of those still out and about,” he added.
According to US media, PG&E claimed that the network has stabilized and the company does not expect further customers to be affected.
Railway lines and traffic lights were closed due to power outages.Today, city officials asked residents not to travel for the rest of the night.
City buses changed their routes and avoided some stops affected by the cuts.
The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management reported “significant traffic delays” across the city.
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