Windstorm knocks out power to thousands

Published on January 14, 2021 by David Wylie

The windstorm was strong enough to blow this trampoline into another yard.

Thousands of Lake Country homes were without power Wednesday morning after a powerful windstorm hit the valley overnight.

About 5,000 Lake Country homes and businesses were affected by the outage at about 4 a.m. BC Hydro crews were able to restore power to most by about 9 a.m.

Lake Country municipal officials say there were power outages throughout the community, an emergency water shut off in Okanagan Centre, and road closures due to downed trees and power lines.

A large tree on Hare Road shifted and damaged a watermain serving a large number of resident in the Okanagan Centre area. Crews were out early in the morning to make an emergency repair.

“A specialist arborist crew and crane had to be brought in early Wednesday to delimb and remove the huge tree before water crews could get to work to restore water service to the area,” says the city.

Water was expected to be restored by Wednesday night.

There were road closures along Okanagan Centre Road East and Okanagan Centre Road West, as well as Hare Road to deal with downed trees and power restoration.