Crews from as far away as Atlantic Canada have been brought in to help restore electricity to about 23,000 British Columbia customers who are still without power after Thursday’s wind storm.
Winds as high as 100 km/h ripped over southern B.C., toppling trees and snapping power lines, knocking out power to more than 600,000 customers.
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A statement from B.C. Hydro says contract crews from the east coast and Alberta are lending a hand where power remains out, including Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.
READ MORE: Small island runs out of gas, groceries as power stays off on parts of B.C.’s coast
The statement says restoring power in those areas remains a challenge because of the extent of damage.
There are hundreds of outages and crews have to attend each individually to make repairs, including restringing hundreds of spans of lines, and replacing power poles and transformers.
Hydro spokeswoman Mora Scott says some customers on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands may be without power through to Boxing Day because of the length of time it will take to repair the damage.
The Canadian Press
