Over 5,000 BC Hydro customers are experiencing power outages on southern Vancouver Island as the first snowfall of the season hits the region.
Most of the outages are reported in the Lake Cowichan area and have been attributed to transmission circuit failure.
Crews have already been assigned to fix the outages in the following areas:
- East of South Shore Road, North of Forestry Road in Lake Cowichan – affecting 2,000 customers.
- North-South-East-West of Cowichan Valley Hwy in Lake Cowichan – affecting 2,010 customers
The outage was reported at approximately 9:55 a.m. on Friday morning in these areas and crews reached site at around 3:15 p.m.
Another power outage was reported on nearby Pender Island and is affecting 945 hydro customers. This has been attributed to a downed tree across hydro wires and crews are expected to reach the area at 4:30 p.m.
See also: Environment Canada extends wind warning as 90 km/h gusts to hit Victoria Saturday
These outages occurred in the wake of wind warnings and snowfall on Vancouver Island that led to the cancellation of dozens of BC Ferries sailings on Friday morning.
Environment Canada has also recently issued an updated wind warning for Greater Victoria as wind gusts of 70 km/h to 90 km/h are expected to hit the capital city on late Saturday morning through to late afternoon.
Weather forecasts call for a week of flurries in Victoria, based on records taken at both Victoria International Airport and at Gonzales Point.
For the most up-to-date information on power outages, visit the BC Hydro outage website.
With files from Cormac O’Brien
