HILL: What a morning in California. Tens of thousands of people waking up without power. In fact, the state's largest power company says it's shutting off electricity for nearly 800,000 customers in northern and central California. PG&E says it's unprecedented but it's needed to prevent power lines from sparking wildfires. CNN's Lucy Kafanov is in Marin County, California, with the details in northern California. So how long do these power outages last, Lucy?</s>LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Erica. Some officials are predicting that some residents might be in the dark for days. Everything here effectively depends on the weather conditions. The combination of gusty winds, low humidity could create the conditions for potentially catastrophic fires. Marin County, where we are standing right now, is one of the more vulnerable areas. It is a densely populated area. It is expected to have very strong gusting wind as we get later into the evening. Residents here have actually been without power since midnight. The shopping center we're standing at right now would normally be bustling this time of day. There's very few cars behind me. A lot of the businesses here have effectively shut down. This is an unprecedented move, shutdown by PG&E. Portions of 34 of the state's counties are going dark. Classes in at least one major university and several districts have been suspended temporarily. The airports are open but there's a lot of traffic headaches with traffic lights going dark. Residents understand this is unfortunately the new normal for California. This state has been hit by several deadly devastating wildfires. We saw one of the most dangerous ones taking place last November. PG&E was thought to have caused that with faulty equipment so these blackouts are part of an effort to prevent a similar disaster -- Erica?</s>HILL: Wow. Could last for days.
PG&E Cuts Electricity to Nearly 800,000 Californians to Prevent Wildfires.