BC Hydro restores power to most customers in Fraser Valley

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – BC Hydro is in the home stretch in its efforts to restore electricity to customers left in the dark because of intense ice storms that swept through the Fraser Valley last week.

The utility’s website showed about 40 homes and businesses without power as of early Wednesday, down from 650 at one point on Tuesday, and a far cry from a peak of more than 100,000 customers at the height of the outages.

BC Hydro had said that while repair crews were making steady progress restoring power, damaged lines had caused further outages in some parts of Mission and Abbotsford.

Hydro also said it expected all customers to be reconnected Tuesday “barring any unforeseen circumstances or significant new damage found.”

Ice storms hammered parts of Langley, Abbotsford, Mission and Chilliwack on Thursday and Friday, snapping tree branches, downing power lines and leaving some BC Hydro substations frozen solid, with sensitive equipment encased in ice.

After days of frigid temperatures, Environment Canada is forecasting a high of up to 7 Celsius in the Fraser Valley by the end of the week.