Power outage forces closure of some school in Kootenay Lake District
By Nelson Daily Staff
Trees falling over power lines due to the heavy snowfall combined with surge in power from FortisBC is reason for the City of Nelson and surrounding area serviced by Nelson Hydro experiencing a system wide outage Sunday night.
Nelson Hydro crews were dispatched to assess and repair the damage of the outage that began at 8:45 p.m Sunday.
Crews were able to restore power briefly at 11:15 p.m., but power went out again until it came back on for good at midnight for most of the City of Nelson.
Nelson Hydro said Monday crews continues to work on getting power back on line on the North Shore from Six Mile to Coffee Creek.
The outage forced Kootenay Lake School board to cancel classes at J.V. Humphries High School in Kaslo, Jewett Elementary in Meadow Creek, Redfish Elementary on the North Shore near Harrop and Crawford Bay Schools on the East Side of Kootenay Lake.
The current weather pattern experienced in the West Kootenay for much of the weekend is expected to continue for at least Monday as Environment Canada continues its Snowfall Warning for the West Kootenay, Arrow & Slocan Lakes, Kootenay Lake and Boundary regions.
“A moist frontal system moving across the BC Interior will continue to produce heavy snowfall over Rogers Pass and Kootenay Pass,” Environment Canada website said.
“Additional snowfall amounts of 15 to 25 cm can be expected by early Tuesday morning before the snow tapers off to a few flurries.”
Driving on any of the local highways, including Highway 3 from Paulson Summit to Kootenay Pass is expected to be slow with total amounts of snowfal in the 25 to 30 cm range.
Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow. Poor weather conditions may contribute to transportation delays. If visibility is reduced while driving, turn on your lights and maintain a safe following distance.
Weather in the mountains can change suddenly resulting in hazardous driving conditions.
Check out DriveBC for more information on local highways.
