LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said it will use aircraft to determine the cause of a power outage impacting parts of southern Lake County that began on Saturday evening and which the company said could leave a large number of residents without power until late Sunday night.

The situation is particularly concerning as an excessive heat warning for Lake County is set to continue through early Monday morning, with daytime highs on Sunday expected to once again surpass the century mark.

PG&E reported that the power outage affecting 816 customer accounts in and around Hidden Valley Lake and the area of Spruce Grove Road began at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

In posts on social media, community members reported the outage, which left them without a way to cool off their homes. One resident reported it was about 106 degrees when the power went out.

Other posts asked people to check on their elderly neighbors.

A PG&E representative told Lake County News late Saturday night that due to terrain, crews could not walk the area to investigate what had caused the outage.

PG&E plans to bring in a helicopter on Sunday morning in order to find the issue and restore power to the impacted customers.

The company’s website said power was not expected to be restored until 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

The PG&E representative could not say if the outage would in fact last that long and said the company had not notified the county of Lake about the situation.

She then referred Lake County News to the county website where facilities where community members can get out of the heat are listed.

However, a check of that list — which Lake County News had published earlier in the week — showed none of those facilities will be open on Sunday.

Late Saturday night, Lake County News reached out to Board of Supervisors Chair Bruno Sabatier, who confirmed PG&E had not notified county leadership about the outage or its potential to continue another 24 hours.

He said he contacted Supervisor Moke Simon and County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson about possibly needing to open up a cooling center if the outage isn’t resolved earlier than Sunday night.

Additional information about the outage and possible assistance for south county residents will be published as it becomes available.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.