UPDATE: Jan. 2 8:30 a.m.
BC Hydro crews in the Williams Lake area have made good progress on restoring power to customers following several outages New Year’s Day due to heavy snow.
As of Thursday morning, Jan. 2, there are 11 outages affecting 114 customers mostly in the Likely and Horsefly areas.
Mt. Timothy Ski Resort was also impacted due to the power outages in the south Cariboo, however, is up and running Jan. 2 with backup power. Staff said the restaurant is open but customers are asked to bring some cash in case their computers crash. Snow conditions are said to be amazing with as much as two feet of fresh snow since New Year’s Eve.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Last year went out with a bang in Williams Lake, at least in the weather department, with 16.2 centimetres of snow falling over higher elevations around the city and 22.2 millimetres of total precipition.
The blast of wet weather — pouring rain for most of the day in the downtown and heavy snow in the surrounding area — wreaked havoc on the roads and power lines in the Cariboo Chilcotin.
BC Hydro is reporting 28 outages in the Central Interior as of Wednesday morning, Jan. 1 affecting 3,096 customers.
In the Williams Lake area nine of those outages are impacting 2,175 customers, with the power being out from the Horsefly/Likely junction to the communities of Horsefly and Likely due to the heavy, wet snow.
The Thompson/Shuswap and Southern Interior areas were hit the hardest New Year’s Eve with many power outages. One of those outages forced the brief closure of the Mt. Timothy Ski Resort.
Mt. Timothy Ski Resort staff said they received ‘a foot and a half’ of fresh snow since Tuesday and have been working to restore power through backup generators due to power outages.
As of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan 1 the resort reopened for guests with ‘amazing’ snow conditions.
Read More: New year, no power: Thousands in B.C. Interior in the dark after snowstorm
The first baby born for Interior Health arrived in Kelowna at 6:02 a.m. while the first baby born in B.C. was born at 12:01 a.m. in New Westminister.
No New Year’s baby has been born yet at Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake.
Operation Red Nose volunteers were busy New Year’s Eve, offering rides by donation to keep impaired drivers off the roads. The initiative is heavily supported by all the local car dealerships, and was busy Tuesday evening and into Wednesday morning.
There is no official Polar Bear Swim in Williams Lake planned.
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