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Power back on for most of Cowichan following windstorm

Only two outages remained in the Cowichan Valley Thursday morning
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Almost everyone in the Cowichan Valley had power back Thursday morning, after a windstorm overnight Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021 caused mass outages. (screenshot)

As of Thursday morning, Jan. 14, all but a handful of residents had their power restored following a windstorm that swept through the Cowichan Valley on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.

More than 21,000 BC Hydro customers in the Cowichan Valley and around the south Island had their power knocked out by the high winds at the height of the outages Wednesday morning.

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday evening about 6,700 customers were still in the dark, but BC Hydro said crews worked through the night and had restored power to 97 per cent of people impacted by the windstorm by Thursday.

“Crews have been working around-the-clock to restore power, replacing hundreds of spans of power line and replacing dozens of power poles, transformers and cross-arms,” BC Hydro said in a press release.

“Crews will continue to work throughout the day and expect to have all remaining customers restored today.”

Only two outages remained in the Cowichan Valley Thursday morning, one in the Crofton area, and the other in the Quamichan area.

“BC Hydro appreciates its customers’ patience and will provide updated estimates for power restoration as they become available at bchydro.com/outages.”