Power restored to 99 per cent of customers impacted by windstorm: BC Hydro

Most customers who were affected by a powerful storm that plunged thousands into darkness around the province’s south coast early Saturday morning have had their power restored, BC Hydro says.

As of around 9:30 a.m. Sunday, BC Hydro says approximately 2,500 customers are still without power.

Strong winds and heavy rain knocked out power to a total of 235,000 people in the Lower Mainland, Sunshine Coast, Vancouver Island, and the Gulf Islands overnight. The utility says people in Surrey, Maple Ridge, Vancouver and Port Coquitlam were most affected.

Some of the outages could be attributed to the hot summer, BC Hydro says.

“With the long, dry stretches over the summer, vegetation has been weakened by drought, making it more susceptible to wind,” it said.

“As a result, many dead and damaged trees and branches have come down causing them to come into contact with BC Hydro’s electrical equipment.”

Customers left cold, hungry and frustrated

Bryan Horwood lives with his family in North Abbotsford, where he says the power was out from 2:45 a.m. until around 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

He says he grew increasingly frustrated as his family is began to run out of propane to cook food and boil water Saturday evening.

Just down the road, Horwood says he saw his local Tim Hortons regain power several hours earlier and doesn’t understand why nearby businesses had restored power while his block continued to be in the dark.

“It’s a little frustrating for us because I have a fairly large family to look after and everyone’s getting hungry and cold,” he said.

He says he heard about crews being on their way beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday morning, but nobody arrived until that evening.

“I understand they’re busy… but perhaps a more realistic update on the website (could help).”

Horwood says he felt there was a lack of communication by the company with affected customers in his area, despite constantly checking for updates via phone, app and website.

The storm began around 9 p.m. Friday and saw wind gusts up to 90 km/h.

The wet weather is expected to stick around into Sunday.