BC Hydro crews completed restoration of power outages across the central Interior following a powerful windstorm that swept over the area Christmas and Boxing Day.
“We’re mobilizing crews and equipment from around the Interior to restore power to customers in the Cariboo region, including 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, and Quesnel, following last night’s storm,” noted BC Hydro in an update Dec. 26. “Due to the remote locations of some of the impacted areas, we do not currently have estimated times for restoration for some customers. However, we expect the majority of customers to have power restored by the end of the day. Thanks for your patience.”
More than 1,000 BC Hydro customers in the Williams Lake area were without power Boxing Day, Dec. 26, morning due to the storm which knocked trees down over power lines.
Areas with power outages in the Williams Lake area includes Black Creek, Keithley Creek, Likely Road, Valley Road and Teasdale Road. The outages started Christmas evening.
At 3 p.m. Dec. 26, seven outages remained for just over 200 customers in the Williams Lake area, about 375 customers remained without power in the Quesnel area and about five customers in the 100 Mile House area.
By the morning of Dec. 27, just one outage remained in the Quesnel area.
Vancouver Island north was hit hardest by the storm with 5,241 customers remaining without power Boxing Day morning.
In other power-related news, on Sunday, Dec. 24, a motor vehicle incident on Mackenzie Avenue in Williams Lake knocked out power to 845 BC Hydro customers Christmas Eve day at 6:54 a.m. for residents and businesses east of Frizzi Road and west of Ridge Road.
A BC Hydro crew was on-site throughout the day to restore the power.
A power pole was broken during the incident. The power was fully restored by 4:30 p.m.
Cpl. Madonna Saunderson, District Advisory NCO, confirmed the Williams Lake RCMP attended the scene at 6:59 a.m.
“Once on the scene on Mackenzie Ave. N near Boundary Road, police found that a black Dodge Journey, with severe damage to the front, had struck a telephone/power-line pole, knocking it down which resulted in a power outage in the area,” Saunderson told the Tribune.
“No was in or near the vehicle when police arrived and there were no witnesses identified. Police did later locate an adult man, who had visible injuries, believed to be the driver of the vehicle. He was taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries. He did confirm with police that he was the only occupant of the vehicle.”
