Recent weather events have BC Hydro crews working to restore power to about 300,000 customers across the province.
Community relations official Sally MacDonald said about 4,500 customers were left without power in the East Kootenay region.
“We saw damage across the province as wind and rain pummeled us. It caused damage to our infrastructure with downed trees and power lines,” explained MacDonald. “In the East Kootenay, the hardest-hit areas were Golden and Fernie. There were about 2,700 customers affected in and around Golden and about 1,000 in Fernie and the surrounding area.”
Local workers were travelling around the region to restore power as quickly as possible.
“We had all of our crews working since Sunday, they’ve been working non-stop. We also bring in contractors as well to help out as much as they can,” explained MacDonald. “Golden kind of got hit first on Sunday, so we had crews coming in there from Cranbrook, Revelstoke and Invermere to help out there. Just as they were able to get a handle on things in Golden, it hit in the southern part of the region. So, those crews rushed back to Cranbrook to help out the crews that were already in town to get things back online in Cranbrook and Fernie.”
According to MacDonald, about 180 customers are still without power in the East Kootenay as of Tuesday afternoon, most of them are in the Fernie, Grasmere and Golden areas.
“We have crews on-site in all of those locations. We anticipate that all of those customers should be restored later today (Tuesday), though some may still be out until later this evening,” said MacDonald.
You can prepare for a power outage by having an emergency kit with a flashlight with an extra battery, a first-aid kit and other necessities, such as medication.