SICAMOUS – Widespread power outages in the Sicamous area Tuesday only made things worse for hundreds of drivers who have been left stranded by highway closures this week.
The Trans-Canada Highway finally reopened Wednesday after being closed for around 36 hours due to a high avalanche hazard. The road was closed between Revelstoke and Craigellachie late Monday night and did not reopen till midday Wednesday.
READ MORE: Sicamous residents feed truck drivers after Highway 1 closes for 2 days
“Everything is black. No facilities, no food,” says truck driver Mark Hickey.
“We had a little bit of water and food in the truck so we were okay.”
The local grocery store was able to stay open Tuesday with the help of a generator.
But with debit and credit services down, it was cash only.
“People that we know really well we helped them out as best as we could. We’d suspend a sale or they would give us a credit card number so we could put it toward their purchases,” says Selfe. “People must have dug deep to find cash because nobody carries cash anymore.”
This closure comes on the heels of another closure of the Trans-Canada west of Revelstoke. The highway reopened Monday morning only to close again late that evening.
In all, 55 centimeters of snow fell on Revelstoke Monday and Tuesday, the biggest two-day storm to hit the city since 1990.
Even before this most recent closure, Revelstoke Mayor Mark McKee was saying the highway was “not up to a proper and safe standard.”
READ MORE: Revelstoke Mayor says Highway 1 ‘not up to a proper and safe standard’
“Just about everyone in Revelstoke has been affected in one way or another by the Trans-Canada, and when you’re affected it’s usually negative,” he said.
“It’s the maintenance, it’s the quality of the highway and it’s the upgrades. If we could fix a little bit of everything, we’re going to be seeing less accidents, and the highway closed less often and for shorter durations.”
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