Highway 1 and Lougheed Highway were opened just after 7 a.m. this morning following overnight closures after a hydro tower toppled into the Fraser River in Surrey.
As of 3:22 p.m., United Blvd has also re-opened between Fawcett and Burbidge. Traffic can now also access United Blvd from eastbound Hwy. 1.
The massive high-voltage tower that collapsed was located on the riverbank west of the Port Mann Bridge, near King and McBride, and went into the water at around 8:30 p.m. Monday.
“The tower pulled down another tower inland on the other side of the CN railyards,” said B.C. Hydro VP of field operations and safety David Lebeter.
The collapse also broke a couple wooden poles up the hill, he said.
Matt Pidutti Puds was out on the river with his girlfriend and her father on a boat ride when he noticed one of the giant towers tilting.
Later on, he heard from a friend that a tower fell and he rushed back.
“You could hear the wires buzzing really badly,” he said when he got to the site.
The tower that fell could still be seen peeking out from the water, but about 90 per cent of it was submerged under water.
The collapsed tower was different from the one he noticed tilting, he added. That tower, while still standing, appeared to be under tension and with a tilted base.
RCMP Sgt. Peter Thiessen said the Coast Guard has reported the south tower is partially in the water, while a second tower to the north is leaning with a lot of tension.
Lebeter said hydro crews were figuring out a way to retrieve the wires that were underwater and those that were lying across three train cars parked in the railyard.
While power has been restored to most Surrey homes by 10:30 p.m. Monday, about 4,500 homes bounded between Highway 1, King George Highway, 104 Avenue and the Fraser River remained without electricity past midnight.
Coquitlam is also greatly impacted by the downed towers.
Coquitlam RCMP begun evacuating a handful of open businesses in the United Boulevard area, between King Edward Street and Baird Streets, including employees of a waste-management facility, as a safety precaution Monday night.
“We just don’t know how much tension there’s going to be and what the domino effect will be at this point,” Coquitlam RCMP Staff-Sgt. Dale Hockley told The Province.
B.C. Hydro told police it plans to shut power down for a couple hours in Coquitlam to ensure there is no danger.
Highway 1 was closed from Brunette Avenue to 160th. Lougheed Highway also was closed from Schoolhouse Road to Pitt River Road.
Marine traffic was blocked northbound on the Fraser River.
B.C. Hydro said the collapse was due to the “increased and unexpected erosion along the Fraser River due to higher than usual flows.”
Lebeter said a barge had struck another hydro tower – about 75 metres downstream – about two to three weeks ago, but that the tower that collapsed showed no evidence of damage.
“It looks like it’s 100-per-cent erosion . . . with the riverbank being eroded away.”
There were no injuries.
The Coast Guard had dispatched the hovercraft CCG Penac, a river boat, and an auxiliary river boat to the site.
Earlier, on the B.C. Hydro website, downed wire was listed as the official cause for about 17,000 homes in Surrey, and some in New Westminster, while a windstorm knocked power out to another 3,000 homes in Surrey.
The outage temporarily disrupted elevator and escalator services at two Surrey SkyTrain stations.
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