Hundreds without power on cold night
Utility crews work to repair downed power lines in Central Okanagan after Tuesday’s windstorm
A real fireplace was put to good use, sort of, Tuesday night in the home of Lake Country Mayor James Baker.
The Bakers were among thousands of town residents left without power after a big windstorm rocked the Okanagan on Tuesday afternoon.
“We used our fireplace last night to keep warm,” Baker said Wednesday. “It has an electric fan that pushes the heat around, so of course that wasn’t working, but it was still OK in the house.”
The temperature dipped to -1 C overnight Tuesday. While the night was chilly, winds were light, a far cry from conditions earlier, when gusts of nearly 70 km/h were recorded at Kelowna’s airport.
Lake Country’s fire department responded to 15 calls of downed power lines on Tuesday afternoon, Chief Steve Windsor said.
On Wednesday afternoon, about 300 Lake Country residents were still without power. Neighbourhoods in the Okanagan Centre area, which is directly exposed to westerly winds, were hardest hit by the windstorm.
Almost 1,500 BC Hydro customers in the Fintry area were also without power, though service was expected to be restored later Wednesday.
Throughout the entire OkanaganKootenay region, more than 5,400 customers had no electricity, but BC Hydro said it was making “good progress” in its restoration efforts.
“Crews are also preparing for possible new outages as weather patterns are expected to continue today across the province,” the utility said on its website.
In Kelowna, about 220 FortisBC customers in two areas of Rutland were still without power by mid-afternoon on Wednesday.