UPDATE: Aug. 10, 8:30 a.m.
While most of the residents hit by Wednesday morning's power outage had the lights back on by the afternoon, some in West Vancouver had to wait until early Thursday morning.
According to BC Hydro, power wasn't restored to some homes in the Caulfeild area until 4:30 or 6 a.m., Aug. 10.
Crews had made progress throughout Wednesday, restoring power to most of the affected homes, said Kyle Donaldson, spokesperson for the utility provider.
The areas where BC Hydro crews were working was "very dense with trees which has made it extremely difficult for our teams to access," he added.
As of Wednesday evening, the cause was still under investigation, Donaldson said. On Wednesday, BC Hydro said a transmission circuit failure was at fault, but a more specific explanation wasn't provided.
UPDATE: Aug. 9, 1 p.m.
The lights turned back on for residents on Bowen Island and Lions Bay early Wednesday afternoon, after a large outage knocked out power for thousands in the region earlier in the day.
But power was still out for around 1,400 customers in West Vancouver, west of Uplands Way and north of Marine Drive, according to BC Hydro.
"Our team is working to restore service to the remaining customers as quickly and safely as possible," BC Hydro spokesperson Kyle Donaldson said.
ORIGINAL: Aug. 9, 12:15 p.m.
Thousands of residents in West Vancouver, Bowen Island and Lions Bay were without power for several hours Wednesday morning.
The outage started at around 8 a.m., with crews onsite at 9:30 a.m., according to BC Hydro. The utility provider says a transmission circuit failure is at fault.
“We are still working to identify the problem but it appears it involves our transmission equipment. We have crews on site in West Vancouver and they are working to access the area, identify the problem and make any necessary repairs,” BC Hydro spokesperson Kyle Donaldson said by email.
“Safety is our top priority,” he said. “We thank everyone for their patience while our crews work as quickly and safely as possible to restore service to the impacted customers.”
This type of outage happens when a major transmission line is unable to deliver electricity, and can be caused by a number of factors including a damaged transmission tower due to a lightning strike, according to generic information on the company’s website.
“Repairs for this type of outage can be prolonged as it may be difficult to access the area to identify the problem and we may need to bring in specialized equipment. We'll often look to provide electricity to impacted customers via an alternate path through 'switching' while crews work on repairs,” BC Hydro states on its website.
