That early-morning windstorm that swept through the central Interior Tuesday was a doozy.
Winds that gusted close to 100 kilometres per hour toppled trees onto power lines, causing widespread outages that affected 10,000 customers and are still keeping Prince George people in the dark.
It’s been all hands on deck for BC Hydro crews trying to restore power since about 2:30 a.m., when the first crew was dispatched.
“By about 6:30 this morning the numbers had come down to about 6,800 customers out,” said Mike Kellett, BC Hydro’s manager of northern community relations.
“Crews are on it and with the wind event moving up into the Peace area we’re moving crews and contracting crews from the South Cariboo up to the north to assist with restoration efforts.”
In the immediate vicinity of the city, Kellett said 2,800 residents and businesses are still without power as a result of 31 outages still in effect.
The Hart area of the city was the first to lose power but there were outages across the city, including the bowl area, Pineview and Cranbrook Hill, Kellett said. The wind was strong enough to knock over the White Spot restaurant sign downtown on Victoria Street.
“It’s what happens when you have those high winds with gusts,” said Kellett. “Most of our outages around the province are trees falling on lines, which is why we invest a lot of time and resources into vegetation removal to control that on rights of ways and things like that.
“In Prince George we also saw some poles that were down and some lines that were down. It’s a good time to remind folks that if you ever come across a line that’s on the ground you have to assume it’s live and call 911. It’s always an emergency when you see a power line on the ground. Don’t call BC Hydro.”
The powerful winds from the southwest were related to the atmospheric river that brought record temperatures to many parts of the province on Monday.
Check the BC Hydro website for updates on the outages in the region.
