(CNN)In an attempt to avoid sparking a wildfire, California's largest utility intentionally cut power to hundreds of thousands of customers Wednesday, and power isn't likely to be restored for days, the company said. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo urged residents on Monday to prepare to be without power for as long as seven days.
By Tuesday evening, local newspapers were reporting that PG&E was going to shut off power for an area with about 2.4 million people by the next morning. Those include residents on dialysis and home oxygen and who use electric wheelchairs. It also includes families and individuals who live paycheck to paycheck and can barely afford the groceries currently in their fridge, which will likely spoil.
Maybe you only found out when your lights wouldn’t turn on Wednesday morning. By then, store parking lots were filled with people stuffing ice into their trunks. Batteries in drugstore aisles were flying off the shelves. Hardware stores were running out of flashlights. Lines at gas stations stretched for blocks. The lights were out inside the rainbow-arched Robin Williams Tunnel that connects Marin County to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Unquestionably, this action is going to cost businesses and residents a lot of cash - likely into the billions. And there's likely to be a significant death toll. Especially since they've cut power to large parts of places like Oakland.
This is a man-made disaster.
Meanwhile, natural disasters are on the way, as Denver plunges into an overnight deep-freeze:
