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‘Severe water restrictions’ in effect for Clearwater, following power outage

BC Hydro crews hope to make temporary repairs by late afternoon
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BC Hydro investigating coommunity-wide power outage in Clearwater. (BC Hydro)

BC Hydro crews are working to repair a transmission circuit failure near Clearwater, which left 3,798 people in the dark since Wednesday and prompted “severe water restrictions” across the District.

The community-wide failure, which occurred at 3:30 p.m., March 23, was caused by a broken H-frame pole structure south that supports the power line, BC Hydro spokesman Bob Gammer said. Crews in a helicopter located the fault south of Little Fort around 10 a.m. Thursday morning.

“Crews are trying to get access to the site now,” he said. “The initial estimates to get temporary repairs by late afternoon today.

The failure initially affected 12,000 customers, including those north of Barriere and a small section of Valemount, but service was restored to more than half of them by 8 p.m. Wednesday night.

It remains out for customers west of Clearwater village, northeast of Highway 5 and south of Clearwater Valley Road. All systems are also down at the District of Clearwater office (Dutch Lake Community Centre), which said in a media release that “our ability to provide service will be very limited until power resumes” and urged residents to restrict water usage to essential activities only.

“Since the power outage, the District has taken steps to ensure safe supply of potable water to the community,” the media release states. “However, given that the power outage is expected to be of a longer duration, we strongly urge everyone to conserve water so that we maintain adequate supply.

“Do not use water unless absolutely necessary.”

More to come.



kelly.sinoski@100milefreepress.net

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