Outage map as of 12:45 p.m., Jan. 2 (Image Credit: BC Hydro)

By James Peters

BC Hydro Outages

Kamloops-area power outages persist two days after winter storm

Jan 2, 2020 | 1:32 PM

KAMLOOPS — BC Hydro says it has restored power to 93 per cent of customers affected by a storm earlier this week, but that’s cold comfort to the remaining seven per cent who have been without power for more than two full days.

Among those still in the dark is Amber Turner, who lives along Lakeshore Road near Heffley Lake.

Turner says her home’s power has been out since Tuesday (Dec. 31) at 11:00 a.m. when a tree fell across nearby power lines.

Hydro crews had the power restored by 4:00 p.m. that day, but Turner says it was no sooner that the crews left the site that another tree came down over the lines. The power has remained out since then.

Frustrated local residents removed the tree Wednesday. However, Turner says when they called BC Hydro, the utility couldn’t tell them when a crew could be on site to restore power.

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“Apparently, they had someone in Lower Heffley fixing (lines) and then up at Sun Peaks, they got to them right away because they were a priority. But they skipped right over (Lakeshore Road) which they would have had to drive by,” Turner told CFJC Today. “So it’s just a little frustrating not having an update or being told when someone can come because it’s not going to be a huge fix.”

Turner says the biggest impact for her family is on food that will spoil without refrigeration.

“Freezers usually only last 24-to-48 hours if they’re not opened at all. But we’ve got three young kids, me, my husband and his mom, so we need to open them to get food,” Turner said. “So we’ve had to put a lot of stuff outside and we’re trying to eat up as much as we can but we’ve got two full freezers.”

In a news release, BC Hydro says 11,200 customers remained without power as of 5:30 a.m. Thursday (Jan. 2). The power utility says customers without service are largely in hard-to-access areas around Kamloops, Salmon Arm, Vernon and Nakusp.

BC Hydro pledges its crews will “continue to work throughout the day on remaining repairs to restore power.”