(Photo: BC Hydro)
Those on the Gulf Islands who have been without electricity for over a week will be ringing in the new year with restored power.
B.C. Hydro says about 650 customers remain without power on the Southern Gulf Islands.
Galiano, Mayne and Saturna Islands along with Bruce Peak are expected to have power by Saturday. Salt Spring will have power by Sunday.
Parker Island will have power by Monday.
“Yea it’s a relief, and it’s great cause the crews will get to see their families,” said B.C. Hydro spokesperson Ted Olynyk.
Another brief period of strong winds Saturday has knocked out power for some, including 293 near Lake Cowichan and 143 near Shawnigan Lake.
Even though crews are focusing their efforts on customers that have not had power since the strong storm on the 20th, emergency crews are still in place to respond to new outages.
Last week the worst storm B.C. Hydro has seen in 20 years hit the coast, leaving over half-a-million in the province in the dark. Crews from across B.C. and beyond have been working to bring those back on.
Due to the severity of the storm, some were without power on Christmas.
B.C. Hydro says Many of the southern Gulf Islands were the hardest hit areas. Hundreds of power lines, poles, cross-arms and transformers were destroyed, and roads were completely covered by trees and vegetation.
The province says almost 100 per cent of the roads on the Islands were impacted.
Updates on restoration efforts can be found here
CHEK News
