B.C. Hydro crews working Saturday on one of the many lines impacted by Thursday’s storm.
Three days after Thursday’s powerful windstorm over 44,000 in the province are still without power with the vast majority, 40,000, on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.
B.C. Hydro says the extensive damage has left some roads impassable and required 800 field personnel to work around the clock.
Some may still be without power for a few more days, a huge inconvenience for those celebrating the holidays.
B.C. Hydro is calling in the worst storm they have seen in 20 years and at the peak of the storm over half a million customers were impacted.
Crews have made significant progress, but are still faced with not been able to complete a full damage assessment in some of the worse hit areas like Duncan, Nanaimo, Lake Cowichan and the affected Gulf Islands.
Updates on outages and restoration times can be found here. Road conditions can be found here.
Officials say outages are prioritized to the areas with the most amount of customers impacted so that B.C. Hydro can get as many back on the grid as soon as possible.
“Emergency operations centres have been activated in affected areas and warming centres have been opened in many communities,” said Mike Farnworth, B.C. Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General in a statement.
The province is asking those in impacted areas to ensure that they have supplies and plans in place to remain safe, and to check on neighbours, especially those in a vulnerable situation.
“I know that an extended power outage during the holiday season presents particular challenges for many. I want to ensure British Columbians that our government will continue to support BC Hydro as it works to safely restore power as quickly as possible.”
We're in day three of restoration efforts from Thursday's #BCStorm and while crews are making good progress, we know this is challenging and difficult for customers still without power. Our President and COO Chris O'Riley shares an update. pic.twitter.com/GKq1xFhyDd
— BC Hydro (@bchydro) December 23, 2018
READ MORE: Fewer than 60,000 without power on Vancouver Island as strong winds approach again
A majority of the outages can be found on Vancouver Island (Photo: B.C. Hydro)
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