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BC Hydro explains why power was out for so long in Coquitlam Saturday

Thousands of customers were without power on Saturday afternoon, causing traffic congestion and the Coquitlam mall to close.
Diane Strandberg
Diane Strandberg
BC Hydro crew
A BC Hydro crew at work. A downed wire caused a lengthy power outage in Coquitlam on Saturday, April 15.BC HYDRO FILE PHOTO

Shopping, driving, web-surfing, streaming and more were hit hard by a lengthy power outage Saturday afternoon in Coquitlam.

And now we know what happened and why it took so long to fix.

Social media was full of appeals for information Saturday afternoon because the outage caused stores to close at Coquitlam Centre, internet to shut down and traffic to snarl.

According to BC Hydro the outage was called in about noon and was caused by a downed wire in the area of Lougheed Highway near Westwood Street.

It's not known what caused the downed wire, but repairing the equipment took "some time," according to a media relations spokesperson.

The outage affected as many as 3,400 customers in the areas of north of Como Lake Ave., south of Pinetree Way, east of Mariner Way and west of Shaughnessy Street.

However, service was gradually restored to customers over the afternoon and evening, with the last 1,000 customers getting full power by 8 p.m.

The lengthy power outage resulted in significant congestion in the area.

On Coquitlam Reddit, a poster said the "whole mall was out of power."

BC Hydro said repairs can take time, depending on the work that needs to be done.

"Sometimes resolving a power outage can be a quick fix — like removing a branch from some wires. Other times, we may need to conduct more extensive repairs — like replacing a power pole, which can take up to eight hours," the spokesperson said in an email.

"Our team worked as quickly and safely as possible. We understand this was a lengthy outage for some of these customers and we thank everyone for their patience."