BC Hydro restores power to thousands after storm whips through Lower Mainland
Posted May 22, 2024 6:24 am.
Last Updated May 22, 2024 12:56 pm.
More than 8,200 BC Hydro customers woke up without power Wednesday morning after a massive wind and rain storm whipped through the Lower Mainland.
As of 6 a.m., almost 2,800 customers in Vancouver were without power and more than 1,000 customers were in the dark on Bowen Island.
Parts of Burnaby, Chilliwack, and Richmond were also affected.
BC Hydro spokesperson Susie Rieder explains most customers lost power between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. when the winds really picked up.
“Around midnight, that was the peak of the storm and there were about 42,000 customers without power at that time.”
As of 1 p.m. BC Hydro had restored power to almost all its customers in the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast.
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, Vancouver International Airport (YVR) recorded a high of wind gusts of 81 kilometres an hour, while Jericho Beach on Vancouver’s West Side saw gusts of 90 km/h.
ECCC adds about 52 millimetres of rain fell in West Vancouver, with parts of Maple Ridge seeing 55 mm in 24 hours.
Rider says BC Hydro crews are “making great progress” as they work to restore power to its customers.
“They’ve made excellent progress overnight and have been working into the morning and will work throughout the day to restore these outages as quickly as possible,” she said.
Rieder explains the outages were mostly caused by the “very heavy torrential rain” bringing down trees and downing power lines.
“We do have a team of in-house meteorologists that monitor weather systems. So, we were expecting the system and we did have crews ready to respond. Crews are always well-positioned to respond quickly when problems occur.
“And with climate change, we’re just seeing more storm activity year-round. There used to be a traditional storm season that went from about October to March and now we’re seeing more storms around the year.”
Rieder is reminding people that if you see a downed power line, call 911 immediately.
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