UPDATED: March 14, 2021. 3:45 p.m.
Nearly 1,100 Vancouver Island residents— ranging from Nanaimo up to Port Hardy — have had their power restored after nearly 2,000 residents lost power due to a winter storm on the northern tip of the Island.
According to BC Hydro, a total of 1,819 residents didn’t have power as of 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, mostly due to trees that have fallen on power lines.
As of 3:45 p.m. on Sunday, 888 customers are still waiting for their power to be restored.
A large chunk of those waiting in the dark are in Courtenay, where approximately 505 customers are still waiting for restored power. Crews are on scene in the area west of Ledingham Road and North of Dove Creek Road, and power is expected to be back on by 6 p.m. Sunday evening.
At least 1,215 customers in Port Hardy lost power on Sunday after the North Island was put under a weather advisory from Environment Canada, which is projecting another 5 cm of snow.
RELATED: Weather alert issued for the North Island, more snow expected
In Port Hardy, at least five different areas lost power due to fallen power lines. After hours of work, more than 75 per cent of customers have their lights back on, with nearly 300 still in the dark.
Approximately 75 residents lost power in Port McNeil, the causes of those outages are still under investigation.
All Nanaimo residents have had their power restored by the mid-afternoon.
For the latest, up-to-date information on power outages in the province, visit the BC Hydro outage map.
Rebecca Lawrence
