Residents cope with power outages
Pedestrians brave the weather Thursday, the morning after winds wiped out power north of 16 Avenue.
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Updated: November 19, 2009 4:05 PM
Winds that shook windows and downed trees gusted up to 90 km/h Wednesday night, contributing to power outages that left thousands of people in the dark, both at home and work.
BC Hydro’s Dag Sharman said crews had to restore power to about 5,000 South Surrey and White Rock customers because of the windstorm.
According to the utility’s website, the largest pocket of customers affected – just over 4,500 – were in an area that stretched west from 176 Street to 140th, and from 34 Avenue south to 16th.
Power was out anywhere from one to seven hours.
By noon Thursday, fewer than 10 Peninsula customers were still without power.
Sharman said overall, Wednesday’s storm triggered fewer outages than the one that started kicking up trouble late Sunday. Crews remained at the ready to deal with any issues that might arise from winds forecast to hit up to 60 km/h Thursday night and Friday.
At least one group didn’t let the lack of light and heat mar their Wednesday night.
Instructors leading a 14-student cooking class at Kitchen Therapy didn’t skip a beat on their fig-and-sherry-braised lamb and lime-cured beef tenderloin menu when the power kicked out about a third of the way into the two-hour class.
Brent Bondarenko, Robbin Lich and Alistair Veen simply switched to portable burners and tealights.
“It just made it interesting,” Bondarenko said.
“But everyone stayed and everyone was fine with it. It was very intimate and quiet.”
Environment Canada dropped its wind warning Thursday, but maintained a rainfall warning for through to Friday morning. Up to 70 mm of the wet stuff is forecast for the Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley and Howe Sound area.
