11 a.m.
It appears power is back on across the Tri-Cities after strong wind gusts ripped through the region and downed some trees.
Power was lost for roughly three hours this morning (May 18) at more than 7,600 households and facilities in Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam.
BC Hydro worked to restore electricity in response to the weather event that brought wires down — primarily on Burke Mountain and in the area north of Lougheed Highway.
The service says power was restored around 10:30 a.m.
A number of schools have their power back on, according to School District 43 (SD43), including Coquitlam River Elementary, Minnekhada Middle, Kwayhquitlum Middle, Irvine Elementary and Smiling Creek Elementary.
The City of Port Coquitlam says operations are also back to normal at the Hyde Creek Recreation Centre.
"Strong winds can cause trees and branches to knock down power lines. If you see a fallen or damaged power line or pole, it's an emergency," BC Hydro explains in a social media post.
"Stay back at least 10 metres and dial 9-1-1."
8:45 a.m.
Powerful winds early this morning (May 18) are currently leaving several Tri-City neighbourhoods in the dark.
As of this publication, BC Hydro is reporting more than 7,600 of its customers without power in Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam resulting from the storm.
Trees brought down wires on Burke Mountain, leaving close to 4,900 households with no power — north of Lougheed Highway in Port Coquitlam, west of Victoria Drive and east of Lasalle Place.
Crews are on site as of 8:45 a.m., according to BC Hydro.
Meanwhile, 2,751 are also waiting for power to be restored just west of Burke Mountain — east of Johnson Street, south of Pipeline Road, west of Manisfield Crescent and north of McAllister Street.
BC Hydro says crews have been assigned to this location.
In both cases, the service says electricity went dead just after 7:30 a.m.
The Hyde Creek Recreation Centre is among the civic facilities with no power, but the City of Port Coquitlam is anticipating it to be restored by 10 a.m.
EDIT (9:11AM): Outdoor Preschool has also been cancelled. https://t.co/TFtPYtybbh
— City of Port Coquitlam (@CityofPoCo) May 18, 2022
There are also outages reported at several Tri-City schools, including Coquitlam River Elementary, Minnekhada Middle, Kwayhquitlum Middle, Irvine Elementary and Smiling Creek Elementary.
School District 43 (SD43) says while schools may still accept students, "parents may wish to keep children at home until power is restored."
As well, there's a small outage in the 1400-block Noons Creek Drive impacting less than five properties.
The cause of that power loss since 7:45 a.m. today is under investigation by BC Hydro, and it's not clear when crews will arrive on scene.
The strong winds this morning have knocked out power to a total of more than 12,200 Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast households.
We're aware of an outage affecting 4,900 customers in #Coquitlam this morning. Crews will be assigned to the area and share updates here: https://t.co/o7DUgn657X pic.twitter.com/ZKeOuyb5d8
— BC Hydro (@bchydro) May 18, 2022
