UPDATE: FortisBC said Wednesday night’s power outage in Kelowna impacted 6,800 homes and businesses.
The Saucier substation has a “wildlife impact,” spokesperson Nicole Bogdanovic said.
All customers had their power restored by 12:30 a.m. Thursday, about an hour and a half after the lights went out.
ORIGINAL STORY:
FortisBC crews are investigating the cause of a large power outage in Kelowna that began at 10:55 p.m. Wednesday.
The area involved was Bernard Avenue to the north, Okanagan Lake to the west (including the WR Bennett Bridge), KLO Road to the south and Gordon Drive to the east.
While Kelowna Regional Hospital was in the affected outage area, back-up generators had the facility lit up like a cruise ship on a dark ocean, according to numerous descriptions to Global News from nearby residents.
Updates on the outage can be found at the FortisBC website here.
FortisBC tweeted out at 11:57 that crews are assessing the cause but do not know when the power will be fully restored.
At 12:15 a.m., FortisBC crews began restoring power, starting with about 500 customers around Ellis and Richter streets.