Thousands of people in Metro Vancouver are experiencing power outages on Friday afternoon due to strong winds. The outages are widespread, but areas in Burnaby and South Vancouver are seeing high concentrations of service disruptions, with B.C. Hydro citing transmission circuit failures and fallen trees on power lines as further causes. Data from B.C. Hydro showed that more than 30,000 customers were without power in the Lower Mainland just before 1:30 p.m. In an email to CTV News, a spokesperson for B.C. Hydro said the outages “are primarily caused by trees and branches coming into contact with power lines and electrical equipment as a result of strong wind conditions.” “Many trees still have a significant amount of foliage, making them more susceptible to wind damage and increasing the likelihood of branches and trees falling onto our system,” the provincial utility provider said. Environment Canada has no weather alerts in effect for the region, but reported winds were gusting up to 51 km/h in Vancouver, up to 70 km/h near the Strait of Georgia and are expected to calm before midnight. B.C. Hydro said more than 13,000 customers were affected in Burnaby alone, as more outages popped up in Port Coquitlam and Langley. B.C. Hydro said crews are monitoring weather systems, responding to outages, and that restoration efforts will continue into the evening. “We understand power outages are disruptive and appreciate our customers’ patience. Our goal is to restore power to affected customers as quickly as possible, and updated estimated restoration times will be posted on bchydro.com/outages as they become available.”
