B.C. Hydro says it expects to restore electricity to the Vancouver Island village of Zeballos on Sunday after an outage began Nov. 7.
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B.C. Hydro says it expects to restore electricity to Zeballos, a village on northwestern Vancouver Island, on Sunday, bringing an end to an outage that began Nov. 7.
In remarks provided to local media on Sunday afternoon, a B.C. Hydro spokesperson said restoring power to Zeballos is the utility’s top priority and that the outage was affecting about 200 customers at that time.
Ted Olynk, community relations manager for B.C. Hydro’s Vancouver Island and Sunshine Coast regions, said the utility was “pretty confident we can get the lights back on today,” but noted conditions can change as weather systems move through.
Olynk said storm impacts have already “prevented [crews] from doing the work [B.C. Hydro] needs to do,” and that the damage to the utility’s infrastructure is extensive enough that a helicopter is required for specialized repairs.
He said those specialized repairs were being carried out on Sunday, adding that the work requires crews “to rappel down” in an “inaccessible area,” while also saying it “looks like things are going well today.”
The Strathcona Regional District said its latest evacuation update, posted Nov. 8, is the most up-to-date. The order covers 10 properties on Pandora Crescent and Maquinna Avenue, and a number of vacant lots in the village of about 125 people.
Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Nan Lu said a period of heavy, steady rain associated with a “vigorous frontal system” has eased, with showers expected to gradually decrease further Monday. Lu said western Vancouver Island saw the heaviest rainfall, with Sunday morning totals of about 70 to 80 millimetres overnight, followed by on-and-off showers rather than steady rain.
B.C. Hydro said Saturday night’s weather caused outages across the South Coast, affecting about 6,000 customers at its peak, with the outages concentrated around Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, including Quadra Island, and also reported in Bamfield and Port Hardy.
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