Most FortisBC customers in the region affected by last week’s windstorm have had power restored, with crews continuing work Monday on the remaining outages.
FortisBC corporate communications adviser Holly Harrison said there are still about 365 customers without electricity as of Monday afternoon, primarily in the Crawford Bay and Ross Spur areas.
She said crews restored power to the vast majority of affected customers over the weekend and are now focused on remaining locations with damage.
“There are a few areas that were quite extensively damaged, so there might be a small number of customers that remain without power tonight,” Harrison said.
She said fallen trees damaged power lines throughout the region, and some transmission infrastructure also sustained damage during Thursday’s storm.
“Those bigger lines are really what takes the time,” Harrison said, adding that restoring power after a major storm involves more than simply repairing damaged equipment.
“Before crews can even switch that back on and restore power, they have to take a little bit of an investigative approach where they patrol the different lines, look at all the damage that happened and make sure it’s all safe.”
Access to some areas was also challenging because fallen trees blocked roads and worksites.
She said repairs are being completed in stages, with major transmission lines repaired first to restore service to the largest number of customers before crews move on to smaller outages.
“Those major transmission lines really being the priority to get on bigger groups of customers and then moving into those kind of smaller pocket areas, which is the stage that we’re at now.”
FortisBC has been directing affected customers to its online outage map for restoration updates and has been contacting some customers directly where outages have been prolonged.
Harrison said the storm serves as a reminder that residents should be prepared for extended outages at any time of year.
“Big outages can happen really anytime throughout the year for a vast majority of reasons, whether it’s winter storms, big windstorms like this,” she said.
FortisBC recommends residents maintain an emergency kit and be familiar with local resources available during prolonged outages.
The utility also reminds people to stay away from downed power lines and report them immediately.
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