Friday, April 19, 2019 ~ LANGFORD
~ West Shore Voice News
After an hour the power was back on. But for anyone who was up early on this quiet Good Friday morning in Langford and Colwood, it was a lightweight wakeup call that outages can happen anytime. This one happened at 7:49 am. The power was back on by 8:50 am.
No weather issues, calm day. Unfortunately one Canada Goose contacting BC Hydro transmission line or equipment was the reason the power shutting off for 2,531 BC Hydro customers, said BC Hydro’s rep on Vancouver Island.
At about 2.5 persons per average household that’s about 6,325 people affected. There are also many businesses in the area, but most businesses (especially retail) are equipped with generators that kick in automatically. But this little outage was at an early time of day on a statutory holiday with likely little impact.
This past winter of 2018-2019 there were extended outages during cold and wet weather. But it’s yet another reminder of how much communities rely upon electrical service and how important or at least convenient it is to have battery backup.
Emergency preparedness officials continually remind people to have an emergency kit for each member of the household including pets. Those kits are recommended for home, car, and place of business.