Fortis frantically working to restore power throughout the region
By Contributor
Winds from heavy storms yesterday evening brought down a number of trees in the Kootenay region, impacting electricity service in the towns of Crawford, Coffee Creek, Kaslo, Fruitvale, Salmo, Ymir, and Rosemont as well as portions of Trail, Rossland, Warfield, and Castlegar.
FortisBC’s first priority is to maintain the safety of the public and our crews as we respond to these outages. Crews worked through the night and this morning to restore service and brought customers in Ymir, Warfield, Salmo and parts of Fruitvale back online.
Our priority now is to restore customers in Crawford Bay, Kalso and the surrounding areas. Two transmission lines serving these areas were heavily damaged. One line is now repaired and will provide power to the area until the second transmission is repaired. We anticipate having these customers restored later this afternoon.
Power lines in the Red Mountain area of Rossland were also heavily damaged. Crews are working on repairs and we anticipate having this less-populated area restored tomorrow.
Back-up crews are scheduled to arrive this afternoon from Kelowna and will provide extra support for other impacted areas. FortisBC appreciates people’s patience as we work to restore service to these areas.
It’s always a good idea to be prepared in case a power outage occurs by having an emergency kit with items like flashlights, a battery operated radio and fresh water on hand in an area that is easily accessible to you and your family.
We would like to remind customers to that of you experience an outage or see a downed power line, call: 1-866-436-7847, option 1.
For ongoing updates, visit fortisbc.com or follow us on twitter at @fortisbc.
