PG&E: Sonoma County outage caused by broken power pole

A transmission line failure that zapped power Wednesday for thousands of homes and businesses in northern Sonoma County was caused by a broken utility pole, according to Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

The outage began just after noon, stretching from Healdsburg to Cloverdale.

The broken pole was leaning across a roadway in the area of River and Palomino roads near Cloverdale, according to California Highway Patrol Officer David deRutte.

PG&E investigators believe the pole broke because a vehicle crashed into it, but they did not find a vehicle associated with a crash in the area, according to utility spokesperson Deanna Contreras.

CHP investigators believe there was no crash, according to deRutte. He said they think the pole fell because it was aging or a tree crashed over on it.

The entire city of Healdsburg lost power, according to city officials, plus about 6,000 other PG&E customers in Geyserville and Cloverdale.

All but about 235 of the affected customers had their power back on within three and a half hours, and the outage was entirely resolved by early Thursday, Contreras said.

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Pera at matthew.pera@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Matt__Pera.