BC Hydro restores power to more than 150,000 customers; crews continue repair work after ice storms
VANCOUVER – Crews continue to work on repairing damage caused by two ice storms that hit the Fraser Valley area, resulting in hundreds of individual power outages. As of 3 p.m., BC Hydro crews have restored more than 159,000 customers; around 2,200 remain without power.
The ice storms have caused significant damage to BC Hydro’s infrastructure, including hundreds of spans of wire, and dozens of power poles, cross-arms and transformers.
The outages are a result of ice forming on trees, causing them to break and fall on to power lines and knock down power poles. In other cases, BC Hydro’s equipment has been encased with ice, which crews have to remove in order to make repairs. This, in addition to difficult and dangerous conditions – icy roads, poor visibility, and falling trees – have created challenges for crews.
Numerous smaller outages remain in hard-to-access, rural areas that crews have to attend individually. BC Hydro is continuing to prioritize customers that have been without power the longest. Over 450 field workers have been working around-the-clock since Thursday to make repairs and restore power.
BC Hydro appreciates its customers’ patience as repair work continues and will provide updated estimates for power restoration as they become available at bchydro.com/outages.