Tweet by city of Berkeley over PG&E outage sparks backlash
City of Berkeley tweet on outages sparks backlash.
BERKELEY, Calif. - A tweet sent by the city of Berkeley telling people with medical needs to "use your own resources" in the event of a power outage has sparked an online backlash.
The tweet was sent Wednesday afternoon, hours before Pacific Gas and Electric shut off power to hundreds of thousands of people in Northern California to prevent its equipment from starting wildfires.
The tweet said residents who depend on electricity for medical reasons should "use your own resources" to flee the shutoffs.
Many people tweeted criticizing the city for its lack of preparedness for the unprecedented blackouts.
Mayor Jesse Arreguin told the East Bay Times the tweet doesn't accurately reflect the city's efforts and said a city task force is checking on people with accessibility and medical needs during outages.