B.C. Hydro says almost all of the thousands of customers who lost power during a windstorm that swept across southern British Columbia have had their power restored.
The utility says crews have restored power to 99 per cent of the 235,000 customers affected by the windstorm that began on Friday evening.
It says they've replaced dozens of spans of power line, as well as power poles and other equipment damaged in the storm that left customers in the dark across the Sunshine Coast and Lower Mainland, as well as on Vancouver Island.
B.C. Hydro issued a statement Sunday saying it expects power to be fully restored by the end of the day, with the "possible exception of small pockets of customers in areas with significant damage."
The company previously said that drought-damaged trees, which are more susceptible to high winds and other severe weather, came down on power lines during the storm.
At the height of British Columbia's drought this summer, 29 of the province's 34 water basins were classified as either a drought level four or five, the highest possible classifications.
The province's drought information portal shows that nine basins are either a level four or five as of Sunday.
— The Canadian Press
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Earlier story:
Thousands of people on Vancouver Island and B.C.’s south coast were without power Saturday after an overnight storm.
B.C. Hydro said strong winds and heavy rain left about 170,000 customers without power at the peak of the storm but it’s hoping to have power restored for the majority of those customers by the end of Saturday.
The vast majority of the outages occurred in the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast, with hardest hit areas in Surrey, Maple Ridge, Vancouver and Port Coquitlam.
The utility said its crews restored power to some customers overnight, but other areas lost power as the strong winds continued.
About 3,000 customers in Campbell River experienced two outages during the storm, with the last outage restored by 2 p.m. Saturday.
”With the long, dry stretches over the summer, vegetation has been weakened by drought, making it more susceptible to wind,” B.C. Hydro said. “As a result, many dead and damaged trees and branches have come down causing them to come into contact with B.C. Hydro’s electrical equipment.”
“All available BC Hydro crews and contractor crews are working hard to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Crews are busy replacing power lines, poles and other equipment to get the lights back on,” it said in a separate statement.
Updates and estimates for power restoration will be posted at bchydro.com/outages.
Anyone who sees a downed power line should call 911 and stay at least 10 metres back.
Environment Canada warned of winds of 70 km/h gusting to 90 km/h on Friday evening as a “vigorous frontal system” crossed British Columbia’s south coast, bringing with it heavy rain and wind for some regions and snow for others.
The high winds prompted B.C. Ferries to cancel sailings on several routes on Friday night, including the three main routes between Vancouver Island and the mainland.
Many smaller routes, including those to the Southern Gulf Islands, also had cancellations.
None of the major routes between Vancouver Island and the mainland were cancelled on Saturday, and paid parking at Swartz Bay, Departure Bay, Duke Point all reached capacity by about 10:30 a.m.
Many of Friday’s wind and rain warnings from Environment Canada were lifted as of Saturday, though the agency is still calling for an additional 10 to 20 millimetres of rainfall in the Fraser Valley by Saturday evening and up to 20 centimetres of snow in Manning-Skagit Valley by Sunday morning.
Highway 1 from Boothroyd to Lytton reopened on Saturday morning after the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure closed the highway on Friday night.
The ministry said in a statement on social media that the closing was due to anticipated mud and debris flows from wildfire-affected areas.
— with files from The Canadian Press
