Successive storms leave tens of thousands without power in B.C.

Successive storms brought damaging winds and heavy rain to British Columbia over the weekend, leaving tens of thousands of customers without power as crews worked to restore service and another storm was forecast for Monday.

BC Hydro said about 80,000 customers lost power at the peak of Friday’s storm, with roughly 40,000 still without service on Saturday. The utility said strong winds brought down trees and branches, damaging electrical infrastructure. Prince George, Port Hardy, Courtenay and Qualicum were among the hardest-hit areas in the Friday storm.

The second storm pushed outages higher overnight. BC Hydro reported about 135,000 customers without power at around 1 a.m. Sunday, falling to approximately 63,000 by 7 a.m. Surrey, Duncan, Port Hardy and Prince George were among the areas affected. The utility said more than 380,000 outages had occurred since Friday and about 317,000 customers had been restored; those totals cover successive storms, rather than the number without service at one moment.

Whitney Deane, a BC Hydro spokesperson, said crews and resources were ready to respond and were making progress. With strong winds continuing Sunday morning, the utility expected...