Due to recent storms, power outages swept through the Bay Area, leaving various neighborhoods and households without electricity for days.
Power outages impact Woodside students’ home life in a variety of ways. Many changes in family schedules have had to be made to accommodate having no source of power.
“It’s definitely been disruptive,” junior Nicki Weppner said. “My dad has to leave work early and borrow a generator from one of our friends or family.”
Many families are also facing issues with not being able to have access to their home electronics.
“My mom is unable to work because she works remotely and all the electronics don’t work,” junior Alessandra Gutierrez said.
Due to various schools being shut down because of having no access to power, many parents struggled to find last-minute solutions.
“With two young children, the power outages have been very challenging to deal with,” AP Biology teacher Joseph Ezrati said. “Their school was canceled for three days, so figuring out childcare was difficult.”
Not only have people’s home life been affected by the power outages, but many students also faced challenges regarding keeping up with their workload without access to working electronics or the internet. Most have had to find alternative sources of energy to complete their school work and not fall behind.
“If you have any family and friends that do have the power you can go over to their place if you are desperate to get work done,” Gutierrez said. “That’s how I get some of my homework done before school, attend a Zoom call, and charge my electronics”
Both staff and students have been forced to explore different ways of communication since many electronics were non-functioning.
“Power outages affect getting work done, we depend on having an internet connection,” Ezrati said. “I’ve been getting emails from students asking questions about things and I’m having to respond from my phone.”
Having power can also prove crucial to those with important medical needs. Guiterrez’s father is an example of this as he has a breathing condition in which a machine helps him sleep at night.
“It’s scary without power and not being able to have that machine on,” Guiterrez said. “He’s more at risk and there’s nothing saving or helping him”
Guieterrez’s father speaks for those in similar situations who are medically dependent on having power to meet their needs.
“There are hundreds of millions of other people out there who might have a certain disease or require a machine which requires power,” Guiterrez said. “So of course there are probably a lot of people out there that rely on power”
Possible solutions are being considered to help counter the various inconveniences brought by these power outages.
“I know they’ve been considering putting power lines underground, which I like,” Weppner said. “They usually shut down [the power lines] so the wind doesn’t make them fall over and start a fire. If they put the powerlines underground or reinforce them in some way, that could definitely help.”
Cities throughout America, such as San Antonio, Colorado Springs, and many more have already taken steps in putting their power lines underground and are now facing fewer issues than California is facing. Cities must start taking these steps to address the growing problem of these power outages.
“PG&E has to get to a point where the wind blowing isn’t going to cause power outages,” Ezrati said. “There are lots of places that don’t have outages so there must be lessons learned from those places”
