A snowstorm has shut the lights off in Lumby for several hours affecting more than 1,600 BC Hydro customers.
BC Hydro said power has been off since 4:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, but residents said power has been in and out since yesterday afternoon.
A crew has been assigned to an outage affecting 1,700 customers near #Lumby. They'll share updates here: https://t.co/hJ8B22bGs5 pic.twitter.com/z6CZl215Ja
— BC Hydro (@bchydro) January 1, 2020
A crew has been assigned to the situation affecting residents east of Headgates Road.
Meanwhile, AIM Roads said it’s working quickly to gain access to snowed-in areas to aid BC Hydro in their efforts to restore power to more than 23,000 affected customers.
More than 60 centimetres of snow fell in the North Okanagan-Shuswap area, AIM Roads said in an update, and many side roads are still unplowed.
Power outages are reported in Falkland, Armstrong, Lavington and Cherryville.
“Crews are being dispatched based on these priorities,” a statement reads. “This means we are not able to plow roads in an orderly manner and we are advising people to please be patient.”
Storm update for North Okanagan/Shuswap Area @DriveBC @TranBC_OKS @TranBC #winterstorm#shiftintowinter pic.twitter.com/RZmpChkYmz
— AIMRoads (@AimRoads) January 1, 2020
“Safety is our priority and everyone is working as quickly as they can.”
Eleven graders are dedicated to side roads and all subcontracted graders have been contacted for additional assistance.
Many of the contractors, however, are already working or are unavailable due to the holiday, AIM Roads said.
Customers are asked to not contact the communication centre unless there is an emergency as most the maintenance company is trying to leave as many lines open to respond to BC Hydro and other emergency requests.
@caitleerach
Caitlin.clow@vernonmorningstar.com
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