High winds have knocked out power to Sunshine Valley and wireless service north of Hope on Wednesday.
According to an email sent by TELUS, they said that their infrastructure was damaged due to high winds in the area. This has disrupted wireless service for approximately 48 kilometres north of Hope, including Spuzzum and Boston Bar.
“Crews have arrived to the remote site and are in the process of bringing in equipment to fix the significant damage,” said the email from TELUS on Wednesday.
In that email, they estimated that service will be restored by Thursday afternoon but in a follow-up email, that deadline was shifted to the evening because “terrible weather conditions … is making this repair increasingly complex as the site is difficult to access.”
“They are still at the site working to restore service and are bringing in additional equipment to resolve the issue as soon as possible,” said communications manager Doug Self.
BC Hydro said that a second wind event has caused multiple outages to customers on Wednesday. Residents from Eastgate to the bifurcation of Highway 3 and 5 have lost power since Oct. 18 at 2:13 p.m. The reason given for the power break is due to a tree falling across hydro wires. Service has since been restored.
Hope residents suffered unstable power and flickering lights at times but cell service continued.