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Lights still off for 11K homes in North Okanagan

Power restored to 93% of customers: BC Hydro
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BC Hydro has restored power to 93 per cent of customers following Tuesday’s snowstorm but approximately 11,200 are still in the dark and crews are working quickly to restore power before the next blast of winter.

More than 160,000 customers in the Central and Southern Interior had their power knocked out during the snowstorm Dec. 31. Crews were able to restore power for around 60 per cent of affected customers within the first 24 hours, despite poor weather and treacherous road conditions — 90 per cent had power back in the first 48 hours.

Many of those 11,200 still without power are in rural and hard-to-access areas near Salmon Arm, Vernon, Nakusp and Kamloops.

Some have been without power since Dec. 30. A reported 435 Cherryville customers east of Richlands Road, for instance, had their lights go out Dec. 30 at 10:24 p.m. and crews are expected to arrive at 10:40 a.m. today.

A strong winter storm is expected to affect much of the Interior and Trans-Canada Highway as snow begins to fall today, according to a special weather alert issued by Environment Canada.

Outages are also reported in Enderby, Armstrong, Grindrod, Salmon Arm, Lavington and Lumby.

SilverStar Mountain Resort is also experiencing power outages which are affecting some services.

According to a social media post, the gondola is closed for maintenance, the mini sleds will be closed for the day and Brewers Pond Base is offline and guests are asked to purchase tickets at the Village Ticket Office.

Several trees have fallen on both the alpine and cross country trails due to the winter storm and guests are urged to use extra caution while on runs.

For a current list of outages, visit bchydro.com.

READ MORE: Lumby in the dark after snowstorm

READ MORE: WATCH: Snowstorm no problem for Lumby man and dog

READ MORE: Lights off for 26K North Okanagan homes


@caitleerach
Caitlin.clow@vernonmorningstar.com

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