Residents in the Fraser Valley might have to ring in 2018 in the dark as BC Hydro crews work to restore electricity to thousands customers still without power.
A pair of ice storms slammed the region on Thursday and Friday, coating it in a thick layer of ice and causing trees and power lines alike to fall. About 120,000 customers lost power during the storms.
As of 6 p.m. Saturday, almost 5,000 customers were still waiting for power to be restored.
"The freezing temperatures are still posing an issue for our crews," BC Hydro spokesperson Tanya Fish told CTV News. "The ice-loaded branches are still falling and continuing to cause some additional outages today."
According to Environment Canada, between 40 and 50 millimetres of rain fell over a 42 hour period. It knocked out power in Ross Rehnby’s neighbourhood Thursday evening and the lights have been off for him and 114 other properties near Sumas Mountain Road ever since.
Rehnby and his wife have a small generator and are alternating between using it to keep their freezer running and powering a few lights in their house.
They are fortunate to have a wood stove to keep the house warm.
"We don't have any hot water because we have an electric hot water tank,” said Rehnby. “But the house is warm. And most of us have little generators or we loan generators back and forth to make things work."
On Sunday afternoon, BC Hydro had over 90 crews working in the Fraser Valley trying to restore power to those still in the dark. Extra crews were brought in from Vancouver Island and the Southern Interior.
Earlier this weekend, BC Hydro had to cut back on some work because of the risk of branches falling on crew members.
Fish explained BC Hydro prioritizes outages based on the risk to public safety. Crews head to downed power lines and power poles first, and then move to a city's critical infrastructure like hospitals. From there, they deal with restoring power to other customers.
"We really appreciate everyone's patience," Fish said. "We know it's a holiday weekend so extra frustrating for most."
Before crews make repairs, they isolate the lines to make sure electricity isn't running. Fish reminded residents to stay 10 metres back from downed power lines and to not move trees or branches touching wires.
The storms also damaged several power stations, and crews had to de-ice sensitive equipment, some of which now needs to be replaced.
BC Hydro said all its substations have been energized as of Sunday, which will help crews determine how to restore electricity to those still without power.
With files from the Canadian Press
