Power restored for almost everyone after B.C. windstorm
Thousands of British Columbians woke up in dark homes Tuesday after a powerful storm knocked out power across much of the province’s South Coast the previous day.
Responding to the widespread outage, some 250 crews made of up BC Hydro employees and contractors have been working around the clock to restore service, according to the utility.
As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, 7, 500 customers remained without power, down from around 290,000 at the peak of the outages.
“What crews are dealing with now are the more difficult spots, the spots we couldn’t get up to because we needed helicopters yesterday,” BC Hydro spokesperson Mora Scott told CTV News.
“We’re hoping to have the vast majority of customers restored by the end of the day, but there may be small pockets who are without power for another night.”
Scott said crews have had to replace dozens of power lines, poles and other electrical equipment damaged in the storm. The utility noted that drought has weakened trees and made them more prone to falling in windstorms.
Wind gusts exceeded 100 km/h in region, peaking at 107 km/h at Victoria’s Gonzales Point, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada. On the mainland, wind gusts reached 85 km/h in Chilliwack and 77 km/h at the Vancouver International Airport in Richmond.
“It was a pretty significant event, one that required adjustments in both our alerts and forecast until essentially it was upon us,” said Armel Castellan, warning preparedness meteorologist for Environment Canada.
After enduring two major weather events in recent weeks, Castellan says our landscape will be more susceptible, when more storms inevitably hit in the coming weeks and months.
“36 to 48 hours or more of consistent rain, if that occurs, then yeah, we are predisposed to seeing some pretty solid impacts to people’s safety and infrastructure,”
Castellan is encouraging people to take pre cautionary steps like clearing out drains in their neighbourhoods, as well as having emergency kits ready in both their homes and vehicles.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
LIVE AT 11 EST Trudeau to announce temporary GST relief on select items heading into holidays
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will announce a two-month GST relief on select items heading into holidays to address affordability issues, sources confirm to CTV News.
'Ding-dong-ditch' prank leads to kidnapping, assault charges for Que. couple
A Saint-Sauveur couple was back in court on Wednesday, accused of attacking a teenager over a prank.
Border agency detained dozens of 'forced labour' cargo shipments. Now it's being sued
Canada's border agency says it has detained about 50 shipments of cargo over suspicions they were products of forced labour under rules introduced in 2020 — but only one was eventually determined to be in breach of the ban.
Joly says next U.S. ambassador Hoekstra will help advance 'shared priorities'
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly is welcoming president-elect Donald Trump's pick for the next U.S. ambassador in Ottawa.
Estate sale Emily Carr painting bought for US$50 nets C$290,000 at Toronto auction
An Emily Carr painting that sold for US$50 at an estate sale has fetched C$290,000 at a Toronto auction.
Parole board reverses decision and will allow families of Paul Bernardo's victims to attend upcoming parole hearing in person
The families of the victims of Paul Bernardo will be allowed to attend the serial killer’s upcoming parole hearing in person, the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) says.
2 boys drowned and a deception that gripped the U.S.: Why the Susan Smith case is still intensely felt 30 years later
Inside Susan Smith’s car pulled from the bottom of a South Carolina lake in 1994 were the bodies of her two young boys, still strapped in their car seats, along with her wedding dress and photo album. Here's how the case unfolded.
Ontario man agrees to remove backyard hockey rink
A Markham hockey buff who built a massive backyard ice rink without permissions or permits has reluctantly agreed to remove the sprawling surface, following a years-long dispute with the city and his neighbours.
Genetic evidence backs up COVID-19 origin theory that pandemic started in seafood market
A group of researchers say they have more evidence to suggest the COVID-19 pandemic started in a Chinese seafood market where it spread from infected animals to humans. The evidence is laid out in a recent study published in Cell, a scientific journal, nearly five years after the first known COVID-19 outbreak.