Hundreds of PG&E customers in Los Gatos hills still without power

Hundreds of PG&E customers in Los Gatos hills still without power.

Nearly 2,000 PG&E customers are still without power nearly a week after a winter storm dumped a foot of snow in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

LOS GATOS, Calif. - Hundreds of South Bay residents face another night of near-freezing temperatures and no electric service.

"Power is out since Friday. Generators running out of propane. So do something. Please," Kaya Volken was pleading for help, Wednesday, as he left his home in the Los Gatos hills.

It’s been six days since a powerful winter storm dumped a foot of snow in the Santa Cruz Mountains, on areas 2,000 feet above sea level. Dozens of trees snapped under the weight of snow, taking down power lines, and severing service.

"The weather conditions, especially the heavy snow, prevented us from accessing our equipment that was damaged. So, it was solely due to the weather conditions," said PG&E spokeswoman Mayra Tostado.

Crisp, clear skies, Wednesday, revealed both the damage and the difficulty in affecting repairs. Snow and ice patches on the narrow, winding mountain roads. And large trees and power lines are still down.

A Santa Clara County crew was using chainsaws to cut a 200-foot Douglas Fir into more manageable pieces. That tree fell during the recent storm, blocking Black Road to repair vehicles.

"So the damage is very impactful to this community. And to be able to complete repairs safely to customers who are impacted in this area, we do need to close a section of the road," said Tostado.

She said a two-mile stretch of Black Road, from Gist Road to Highway 35, will be closed Thursday and Friday, to allow PG&E crews to restring lines and restore service.

Fallen Tree South Bay

None of this can come too quickly for the 200 residents living along Black Road. Even if all goes well, they’ll be without power for about a week.

"I’m tired. Look, I’m wearing for a week. I smell like (expletive)," said Volken.

Late Wednesday, the California Public Utilities Commission sent a statement to Fox 2 that read in part, "For storm-related outages, we assess PG&E’s performance to ensure it met rules and regulations, including communication with customers and restoration operations."

The Black Road closures are Thursday & Friday, from 7am-to-7pm.

Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on Twitter, @JesseKTVU and Instagram, @jessegontv