BC Hydro expects repairs to the damaged power grid on the Sunshine Coast to be completed by this evening
Spokesperson Ted Olynyk says as outages elsewhere are taken care of, more resources resources become available and crews are being brought to the Sunshine Coast from Vancouver and other areas of the Lower Mainland to help with the repairs in Sechelt, Gambier Island, and Keats Island.
Work continues to clear trees and vegetation in order to access areas and replace equipment damaged by Monday’s storm, and Hydro expects to have the power restored by this evening.
Tens of thousands of people across the Lower Mainland and on the Sunshine Coast, as well as Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands lost power during the storm.
BC Hydro says the hardest hit areas were Sechelt, Victoria, and North Vancouver.
Olynyk says the heavy damage was the result of many factors, including trees there were weakened by several years of drought, wind speed, and the direction of the wind.
“When we have a different direction of wind coming in that they’re not used to and now we add the fact that they are weakened because of the drought conditions it’s a recipe for a lot more trees to come down than normally would.”
Olynyk says BC Hydro has an aggressive tree management plan to help prevent outages by removing dead or dying trees and branches that could fall on power lines.
However, he says during the recent storm a number of healthy trees they would not cut were blown down.
Meanwhile, Olynyk says homeowners are responsible for the lines that go from pole at the road to their meters and should contact a certified utility arborist to ensure vegetation won’t come in contact with the power line.
