Monday November 30, 2020 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends
High winds made a strong ‘winter is coming’ statement this Monday morning November 30, on a day that was otherwise a blue-sky day, with no rain. But cold (only about 9°C by the early afternoon).
As power outages first hit — around 10 am — over 18,000 BC Hydro customers were without power. Affected areas included Langford, Colwood and Metchosin and parts of Saanich and View Royal (10,000 in those areas), and over 4,000 in Sooke region together with west into Juan de Fuca.
About five major feeder lines went down, explained Ted Olynyk who handles BC Hydro community relations on Vancouver Island. The focus of restoration is to bring those feeders (230 kV transmission lines and smaller 25 kV lines) back up first, as each one provides power to about 1,500 to 3,000 customers, he explained today.
Sure enough, power came back on for about 9,000 BC Hydro customers by 11:15 am, leaving around 9,900 still waiting for restoration in the Langford, Colwood and Sooke (and west of Sooke) areas. The fact that the weather is not rainy and the wind had essentially passed by noon will be helpful to restoration crews.
The weather warnings:
Olynyk says that Environment Canada wind warnings from last night were headed. In that way, line crews had a heads-up last night of likely a busy day today.
Environment Canada’s wind warning said at 10 am that “strong winds (that may cause damage) are expected or occurring”. The reason: “In the wake of an intense cold front, westerly winds of 70 gusting to 90 km/h have developed near Juan de Fuca Strait. These winds will abate this afternoon.”
BC Hydro follows weather quite closely. Olynyk says that reports from a number of sources are reviewed, including from Environment Canada. “Depending on the nature of the impending wind event (direction, pressure and speed), we ensure that staff are aware of the storm’s potential,” he told Island Social Trends today.
Strong winds often impact older or weather-damaged trees which can fall onto power lines, leading to outages.
Schools without power:
Meanwhile, the Sooke School District (62) that serves the west shore area posted on Twitter around 11:45 am that what they called an “ongoing power outage”, that parents are welcome to pick up their children from the following SD62 schools in the Langford and Colwood west shore areas: Dunsmuir Middle, Lakewood Elementary, Royal Bay Secondary, Sangster Elementary, Spencer Middle, Willway Elementary. There are no afternoon classes at Royal Bay, says SD62. “Please remain outside, wear a mask,” it was stated by SD62.
Schools are rarely ‘closed’ in SD62. The schools have remained open and staffed and are safe for the students, said SD62 communications rep Lindsay Vogan. Buses will pick up as per usual at day’s end, for student who have stayed.
Four schools in Sooke had power restored quite shortly after a notice went out that parents could pick up their kids. “Some of our schools were only at half attendance by the time we put the notice out, so we did not recall,” says Vogan.
