Power restored at SRT.
Public schools on Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows are open today, Thursday, Feb. 9.
Power has been restored at Samuel Robertson Technical School.
B.C. Hydro crews are working to restore power to other areas of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.
The largest outage, affecting close to 1,500 customers, is in upper Albion.
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| Heavy, wet snow and freezing rain has caused hundreds of individual power outages in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Sunshine Coast and on Vancouver Island. More than 40,000 customers were without power as of 9 a.m.
The hardest hit areas are Chilliwack, Maple Ridge, Mission, Port Moody, Victoria, Courtenay and Duncan.
All B.C. Hydro crews and contractor crews worked overnight and will continue to work throughout the day to restore power. B.C. Hydro is also bringing crews from the Southern Interior to support with restoration.
Heavy, wet snow adds weight to branches and trees. This results in them breaking and coming into contact with BC Hydro’s electrical equipment. Crews have been busy repairing damaged power lines, power poles and transformers.
More than half of all outages in B.C. are caused by trees. BC Hydro has more than three times more trees per kilometre of power line than any other utility in North America. Each year, BC Hydro spends more than $50 million on vegetation maintenance to prevent power outages.
Crews are receiving reports of downed power lines. A downed power line is considered an emergency situation and members of the public should stay at least 10 metres back and call 911 immediately. BC Hydro crews will work together with first responders to make the area safe.
