Williams Lake cleaning up aftermath of weekend storms

Nov 9, 2026 | 3:24 PM

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — The worst of the winds have died down for now and most of the lights are back on, but the work is not over as clean-up begins in the City of Williams Lake in the aftermath of intense storms that tore through the province over the weekend.

BC Hydro said nearly 415,000 customers were without power through the weekend, more than 3,000 of which were in the Williams Lake area.

“A lot of damage has been done,” said Williams Lake Mayor Surinderpal Rathor. “People lost their internet, people lost their communications, they lost their power. A lot of people and businesses were without power.”

The storm knocked down trees and branches, damaging power infrastructure. Now that the worst of it has past Williams Lake, clean-up has begun.

“People are getting power back, areas are getting cleaned up,” said Rathor. “Nobody is taking it easy. [Power] is the one service that Canadians depend upon. [BC Hydro] is doing the best that they can.”

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BC Hydro said the Central Interior was hit hard in the weekend storms, which includes Williams Lake and 100 Mile House, with Prince George bearing the brunt of the infrastructure damage.

“We’ve now restored power to 99 per cent of customers impacted by these storms, but our job isn’t finished until every customer is back on,” said Whitney Deane, BC Hydro spokesperson.

“Our crews have been working around the clock since Friday through some very challenging conditions. We know it has been a long few days for customers who are still without power, and we appreciate their patience as our crews work through these final, complex repairs.”

by Elora McCormack

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Williams Lake cleaning up aftermath of weekend storms

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