PG&E cut electricity to more than 1,600 customers across three Bay Area counties Wednesday night as high winds and extreme dryness prompted the utility's second major Public Safety Power Shutoff in less than a month — and for rural residents relying on electric well pumps, losing power also meant losing running water.

The shutoffs, activated around 9 p.m. Wednesday and expected to lift by 4 p.m. Thursday, affected Napa, Sonoma, and Solano counties in the Bay Area as part of a nine-county action spanning Northern California. They came as the National Weather Service issued Red Flag Warnings across a wide stretch of the region, with wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph and daytime humidity forecast to drop as low as 9 percent — conditions fire officials warn can cause blazes to spread with dangerous speed. The back-to-back events suggest the Bay Area's window of elevated fire risk is no longer confined to fall.

Napa County carried the heaviest share of Wednesday's shutoffs among Bay Area communities, with more than 900 customers affected, according to PG&E's outage map. Sonoma County had nearly 630, and Solano County just over 100 — a smaller figure, but one with consequences that extend beyond inconvenience for those living on rural properties.

John Pierson, a rancher in Vacaville, described the compounding effect in blunt terms. "All our water is on well, so when the electricity goes out, guess what?… we can't take a shower as long as it's off," he told NBC Bay Area. For households dependent on electric well pumps — a common setup in unincorporated stretches of Solano County — a PSPS isn't only candles and spoiled groceries. It means no running water until the grid comes back up.

PG&E spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian said the utility activates shutoffs only when conditions make it unavoidable. "Public safety shutoffs are the last resort… if it's not necessary we are not going to call a PSPS," she told NBC Bay Area.

The National Weather Service backed that risk assessment. Active Red Flag Warnings issued by NWS offices in both Sacramento and Eureka remained in effect Thursday, covering areas including the Vaca Hills and eastern portions of Solano County, as well as Lake County to the north. North winds of 15 to 25 mph, with gusts reaching 30 to 40 mph, combined with relative humidity dropping to between 9 and 15 percent during the afternoon created what forecasters described as conditions where any fire ignition could rapidly grow.

Wednesday's event marks the second major PSPS to sweep the same cluster of North Bay counties in under a month. In mid-May, PG&E put customers across Napa, Solano, Sonoma, and surrounding counties on notice for similar high-wind, low-humidity shutoffs. Two such events within 30 days during what has traditionally been a lower-risk stretch of the year signals that the Bay Area fire season is effectively extending its reach — both geographically and on the calendar.

PG&E has faced sustained criticism for the bluntness of its PSPS tool, which affects some customers for whom the outage itself creates safety risks — including elderly residents without backup power for medical equipment and, as Pierson's case illustrates, rural households where electricity and water are inextricably linked. The utility has maintained that the shutoffs, however disruptive, are preferable to the alternative.

Power was expected to be restored to affected Napa, Sonoma, and Solano customers by 4 p.m. Thursday.