High winds knock out electricity
A downed power line left about 800 homes in Penticton without electricity during Wednesday night’s windstorm.
“A small piece of town was without power,” said City of Penticton Electric Utility general manager Terry Andreychuk. “A tree branch came down on a power line on Jermyn Avenue. It came down on the line and they slapped together causing a spark which burnt it and it came down to the ground.”
He estimated that 800 to 1,000 homes were without power from 8:53 p.m. to 9:39 p.m. on Wednesday. A 20-unit apartment building just off Jermyn didn’t have power restored until just after midnight.
“Since the first windstorm we cleared out a lot of vegetation and have been pretty aggressive about doing that since. The homeowners have also been very co-operative and we appreciate that,” Andreychuk said.
Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist said at 8 p.m. on Wednesday the wind gusted to 74 km/h and at 1 a.m. on Thursday there were sustained high winds with gusts of 59 to 69 km/h.
“And it could get worse yet, this is November and it is the typical thing to happen,” said Lundquist. “This could continue into other storms into the weekend but it just depends on how close the pattern comes to us.”
“We could have some more winds and snow in those passes that will be right through the weekend.”
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