Power restored for 99 per cent of customers after B.C. windstorm, utility says

A broken power line is seen in Burnaby on Saturday, Dec. 14.

The vast majority of the more than 300,000 BC Hydro customers who lost power during Saturday’s windstorm have the lights back on, the utility says.

As of 12:30 p.m. Sunday, roughly 3,500 customers remained without electricity on B.C.’s South Coast.

BC Hydro says it expects almost everyone to have power restored sometime Sunday. It said outages may persist in the Brunswick Beach area of Lions Bay—where a mudslide shut down the Sea to Sky Highway through the day and overnight—Camp Jubilee on Indian Arm, Keats Island and Gambier Island.

“For customers in Lions Bay at Brunswick Beach, with the highway now reopened we'll be assessing the site to see if work conditions are safe to begin restoration. Crews will patrol for damage today on the line serving Camp Jubilee, but it's challenging due to the remote nature of the area. We'll also have helicopter patrols of Keats Island and Gambier Island to aid damage assessment,” the utility wrote in a Sunday morning update.

“Crews will continue working throughout the day to repair power lines, poles and other electrical equipment to restore service as quickly and safely as possible.”

The peak wind gust recorded during the storm was 117 km/h on Solander Island off the northwest coast of Vancouver Island, according to Environment Canada. The wind reached 96 km/h at the Delta-Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal.