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24-hours without power

Update -- 10:20 p.m.

According to BC Hydro, power has been restored to most areas of Peachland and Summerland.

However there are several regions throughout the Okanagan that remain in the dark.

In Vernon and Westbank there are neighbourhoods where over 100 homes are without power. And of the 3,800 customers in Summerland and Peachland who experienced an earlier outage, power has been restored to all but five customers in the Sanderson ave area of Peachland and all but 43 homes in the East-West area of highway 97 in Summerland.

Earlier in the day 1,600 Lake Country residents were affected by the outage, but now only five customers in the 16000 block of Barkley road remain in the dark.

For an estimated time of power restoration and additional information on outages please click here.


Update -- 4:00 p.m.

Many residents in Peachland and Summerland are expecting to be without power for nearly 24-hours. 

For many residents in that area, power went out at 8 p.m. last night and and it remains off this afternoon.  

BC Hydro says power was restored for a short period between 2 a.m and 4 a.m., which is why they are reporting the current outage began at 4 a.m. this morning. 

Their original estimate for the restoration of power has now been extended to 9 p.m. leaving residents without power for most of the 24-hour period.

BC Hydro spokesperson Dag Sharman says crews are working diligently to get power back on but are facing some difficult obstacles.

Power was returned to the 1,600 Lake Country residents affected shortly before 3 p.m.

There are still 46 outages affecting 4,500 customers up and down the valley. 


Update -- 2:00 p.m.

A new power outage in Lake Country brings the amount of Okanagan residents without power to over 6,000.

Over 1,500 Lake Country resident’s power was knocked out just after 1 p.m. this afternoon, an outage BC Hydro attributes to the snowstorm.

They join over 3,800 people in the Peachland/Summerland area that have been without power since early this morning.

In total there are 54 separate outages, affecting 6,429 customers up and down the valley.

BC Hydro says the majority of the outages are due to the snowstorm, which caused many trees to break and power lines to come down.

The currently estimate the power will be returned to all customers by 4 p.m. 


Update -- 11:45 a.m.

Fortis BC is reporting that power has been restored to the majority of affected customers in Glenmore, Joe Rich, Big White and Naramata. 

The company says they are working to restore power to the remaining 100 affected customers. 

In Lake Country and Oyama, the majority of power has been restored. Over 3,800 homes are still without power in Peachland and Summerland.  BC Hydro estimates it will be restored by 4 p.m.

Several hundred people are also without power in Vernon and West Kelowna with an estimated turn on time of 4 p.m. as well. 


Update -- 9:30 a.m.

FortisBC says they've been kept busy this morning with many outages throughout the valley, but most power has been restored to the Naramata and West Bench areas of the Okanagan.

“We’ve restored to most of the customers around there. We’ve also restored to a lot of customers around Princeton. Our largest outage around the Kelowna area is Big White and Joe Rich," says Neal Pobran, Manager of Corporate Communications.

He says about 2,000 people are still without power in those areas, but crews are already responding to where a tree has fallen onto some power lines. 

Turning closer to home, power has also been restored to most areas in Rutland, but there are other pockets in Glenmore and Dilworth that are in the dark. 

In Lake Country and Oyama, there are approximately 1,600 residents still in the dark with power expected to come back on by 4 p.m. And 3,800 homes without power in Peachland and Summerland. BC Hydro now anticipates power to be restored to those customers by noon.


Large areas of the Okanagan are without power Wednesday morning following the region's first major snowfall of the season.

According to BC Hydro, there are just over 1,500 residents in the Peachland area without power this morning and another 2,300 homes without power further south towards Summerland.

Power in those areas went out around 4:30 this morning and it's expected to be restored by 8 a.m.

Another couple hundred more homes are also without power in both Lake Country and Westbank, with BC Hydro anticipating things to get back to normal just after 9 a.m.

And FortisBC is reporting that thousands of homes in Rutland, Big White and the Penticton/Naramata area are also in the dark this morning.

The winter weather has also affected just over 1,000 residents in Salmon Arm, with the power going out around 5:30 this morning. Those customers are expected to get their power back by 9 a.m.



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