BC Hydro warning of ‘difficult’ storm season for outages
Posted October 26, 2022 11:18 am.
Last Updated October 26, 2022 11:55 am.
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British Columbians, especially on the South Coast, should be prepared for weather-related power outages, according to BC Hydro.
The utility encourages people to prepare for a power outage by having an emergency kit with supplies that will last for 72 hours.
“Our meteorologists are warning this is going to be particularly difficult storm season, especially because of weakened vegetation, and really dry soil,” BC Hydro spokesperson Susie Rieder told CityNews. “That could mean more trees and vegetation are coming down onto electrical equipment.”
“We’re just wanting our customers to be prepared for potential weather-related outages as storm season, or what’s known as traditional storm season kicks off,” she said.
Last year’s heat in summer with flooding in the fall had impacts on B.C.’s nature, so this season also may have unexpected weather events, BC Hydro warns.
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The utility says this year’s weather conditions are similar to those in 2015 and 2016 which saw power outages caused by storms.
“We sort of got lucky, because there were very limited wind events over the storm season last year,” Rieder said. “We didn’t see as many trees coming down and causing outages as we thought they might, but this storm season could be very opposite. And we could see a lot more wind events. In fact, that’s what our meteorologists are predicting.”
BC Hydro prepares for storm season by sending crews to check trees to find and prevent potential problems, saying trees and adverse weather are the single biggest cause of power outages in B.C., causing more than half of outages in the province.
If you see a damaged powerline, BC Hydro advises people to stay at least 10 metres away and report it to 911.
Risk of landslides
Two atmospheric rivers are set to hit the region between now and Halloween, with Environment and Climate Change Canada issuing a special weather statement.
An associate professor at UBC specializing in oceans and atmosphere, Brett Gilley, says there’s concern that due to our dry start to fall, there could be a higher risk of landslides.
“Having all the dry soil and then dumping a whole bunch of water right on top of it – it can be a difficult situation,” he said. “You get a lot more water flowing overland and going straight into the creeks.”
The City of Vancouver says you can help out by watching for clogged gutters in your neighborhood.
The region is expected to get 60 millimetres of rain on Thursday with another potentially worst storm coming on Sunday.
With files from Dean Recksiedler.
