Public Library Comes To The Rescue For People Needing Power In El Dorado Hills

EL DORADO HILLS (CBS13) — With power still off for hundreds of thousands of customers, people need to charge their devices somewhere.

For some people it's about being able to work, others need power for life-saving medical devices. One option is the community resource centers PG&E has open up for people.

People in El Dorado Hills are also going to the public library, which somehow has power even though all the neighborhoods around it, did not. Staff there said they are getting five phone calls an hour asking if they're open.

"People are coming and bringing their devices. They are plugging into any available outlets that we have. I've been scrambling to get extra cords to accommodate people," said Jan Robbins, the branch manager.

Robbins opened up the community center at the library, which is usually closed.

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"We actually put out water and some snacks because its kind of stressful to not have power at your house," she said.

Nathan Myers has been without power since this all started Wednesday morning. He needs to work and the library is his only power source right now.

"It's very annoying and it seems very unnecessary," Myers said.

He's not happy with PG&E's decision to shut off power at his home in Placerville.

"And their website's down so we can't even get information," Myers said.

Many areas have gotten the all-clear to start turning power back on, but PG&E needs to inspect the lines first. A lot of people are already thinking about the next time power will go out

"Next time go out of town. Visit someone else, a family a friend someone else outside of the area that's getting affected," said Kasra Erfanian, an El Dorado Hills resident.

PG&E said they have 6,300 people working on the power restoration effort. That's going to happen in phases, the same as when the power went out.