Windstorm leaves downtown powerless
By Kyra Hoggan
A storm Monday afternoon closed many local businesses and left City Hall in the dark when winds gusting up to 65 km/h knocked trees onto power lines along Arrow Lakes Drive.
Fortis BC spokesperson Nancy MacLeod said more than 2,300 Castlegar customers were ‘power-less’ from about 1:45 to 4:50 p.m., while homes and businesses in Genelle and Blueberry had power restored slightly sooner.
Meteorologist Ron Lakeman, with the B.C. Forest Service, said the windstorm was not unusual in its severity, but rather in its length.
“Two years ago, almost to the day, we had a similar (weather) pattern with gusts up to 90 km/h,” he said. “If anything was unusual, it was the duration, with winds over 20 km/h for roughly six hours,” he said.
Fire chief Gerry Rempel said, “the wind didn’t help us”, in regard to a small brush fire they had to address during the storm, adding they had just managed to deal with the fire when they got calls regarding two trees on power lines, and a fire alarm at City Hall that was set off by the storm.
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