Photo courtesy BC Hydro

By Caden Fanshaw

BC HYDRO

Thousands without power in Robson Valley, Valemount

Mar 23, 2022 | 7:00 PM

UPDATED 8:40 PM March 23:

MCBRIDE- BC Hydro says thousands will be without power overnight in the Robson Valley, Valemount, and in surrounding areas along that corridor.

At 3:23 pm this afternoon, one of the BC Hydro transmission circuits that runs north from Kamloops tripped and nearly 12,000 customers were affected. Crews have managed to restore power to over 7,000 customers as far north as Barriere.

Unofortunately about 4,700 remained without power as of 8:15 pm on Wednesday, and are not expected to have it restore until Thursday morning at the earliest.

Those in the dark include those in the Robson Valley. BC Hydro is working to get the McBride diesel power generator station running at this point it is not clear why it didn’t start up when the outage occurred.

WHL PLAYOFFS

Cougars feeling great heading into highly anticipated series with Winterhawks

29m ago

Furever Friends

Litter of puppies in search of foster parents

1h ago

To Your Health

Budding research indicates marijuana could reduce overdose deaths

3h ago

Crews will continue to work on getting the transmission line back in service, but the source of the problem has not been located and crews are currently hindered by rugged terrain, prevailing weather and the onset of nightfall.

Northern Health has confirmed back up power is working at healthcare facilities in McBride.

In Clearwater, the Mayor has warned of jammed cell service and is asking residents to conserve water for fire protection.

CKPG News will update this story as more information becomes available.

Original story:

MCBRIDE- Thousands are in the dark in Eastern BC due to what BC Hydro is calling a transmission circuit failure.

According to the BC Hydro website there are just over 6000 people without power in the Thompson/Shuswap region which includes McBride, Valemount, and stretches as far west as Clearwater, and Blue River in 16 separate outages.

The power officially turned off just before 3:30 on Wednesday afternoon, with no expected time it may come back on.

BC Hydro states crews are on site.

According to a source within BC Hydro crews are flying the power line and will provide an estimate on a repair or solution.

Owen Torgerson, Mayor of Valemount posted pictures showing snowfall in his community on Wednesday afternoon calling it a “crazy snow storm” with “snowflakes the size of butter cups.”

CKPG News has reached out to BC Hydro for more information.