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BC Hydro workers kept busy in the Comox Valley on Christmas Day due to storm

Approximately 7,000 Comox Valley customers experienced power outages on Dec. 25
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BC Hydro crews were called out for downed power lines throughout Vancouver Island and neighbouring islands due to the Dec. 25 windstorm. Photo via twitter.com @bchydro

While some may have been dreaming of a white Christmas, many more experienced a black Christmas, due to power outages caused by the Dec. 25 storm.

According to BC Hydro community relations manager Ted Olynyk, at its peak, approximately 7,000 customers in the Comox Valley experienced power outages.“That happened at 8 p.m. on Christmas Day and it really kicked in unfortunately, right at dinner time,” said Olynyk. “It went from just a couple hundred outages to over 5,000, at around 5 p.m.”

̨MM 97 per cent of all power had been restored by 2 p.m. on Boxing Day.

While the remote islands, such as Hornby, are typically the most challenging outages to address, BC Hydro makes plans in advance to address any issues in such communities.

At one point on Dec. 25, all of Hornby Island was shown as affected by power outages.

“It’s always a challenge getting to the Gulf Islands,” said Olynyk. “We do try and leave vehicles on some of the Gulf Islands (for immediate response). The vehicles we leave over there… help us deal with quick emergencies or do assessments, but we still need the ferries to bring over the heavy equipment to do the work.”

Approximately 4,300 customers in the Royston/Cumberland/west Courtenay area went dark around suppertime.

The most common reason for the outages was downed power lines, caused by fallen trees.

Olynyk said that while this storm was a typical winter storm, the effects of it are part of a new reality, brought on by the summer droughts. The larger the tree, the more brittle it is at the higher areas, as vegetation hydrates itself from the roots upward.

“Vegetation that would normally stay up is coming down more easily now because of the stress that’s put on them during the summer… the recent summers that we have had, it’s just been drought after drought,” he said. “They (trees) just isolate themselves to the trunk and some of the branches are just dry and brittle and ready to fall off and come down to our lines.

“Our trees weren’t built for (that) kind of weather. So it’s put a lot of stress on them and it makes it a lot easier for them to fail.”

According to the BC Hydro website, nearly 28,000 customers on Vancouver Island were affected by the Christmas Day storm. The wind picked up again on Wednesday (Dec. 27) evening, and a couple of local outages were reported on the Thursday (Dec. 28) morning, affecting approximately 50 customers.

To learn more about how to best prepare for power outages, visit



Terry Farrell

About the Author: Terry Farrell

Terry returned to Black Press in 2014, after seven years at a daily publication in Alberta. He brings 24 years of editorial experience to Comox Valley Record...
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