About 4,700 PG&E customers in parts of San Francisco’s Potrero Hill and Mission neighborhoods lost electricity when a Mylar balloon hit a power line this afternoon, a utility spokesman said.
The balloon struck the line at 21st and Alabama streets around 3:20 p.m., spokesman Joe Molica said.
Crews responded and were able to restore power to all but 75 customers within half an hour. As of 4:30 p.m., those customers were still without power, Molica said.
There was no estimated time for when they would have their power back, he said.
Molica said the balloon “caused extensive damage,” and he reminded people to keep metallic balloons weighed down and away from power lines.
The same neighborhoods affected by today’s outage experienced an unrelated power outage on Tuesday afternoon.
About 3,900 customers in Potrero Hill and the southern portion of the Mission District lost power at about 3:35 p.m. Tuesday after an equipment failure on Cesar Chavez near Interstate Highway 280, according to Molica.
Sasha Lekach, Bay City News
