Weather Frustrates Kitkatla Hydro Repairs

PRINCE RUPERT -- B.C. Hydro workers were chest deep in mud going through a land slide trying to repair several power lines in Kitkatla, said Curtis MacPheat, a manager with B.C. Hydro.

But they pulled out three hours later because of poor weather conditions, which included winds, fog and heavy rains.

"Basically everything that could go wrong this morning has gone wrong," said MacPheat. "But the good news is we got a lot of work done in three hours."

The village Kitkatla had been without power and workers were only able to get into the area three days later to start repairs. They were unable to get access to the community until then because high winds prevented their helicopters from landing.

"This has been a crazy year for us. We usually only get a few slides a year, but this year we've had 10 or more in the Prince Rupert area," said MacPheat.

MacPheat says it is conceivable that the power outage will last as long as Port Simpson's did earlier this fall. Port Simpson struggled with on-again-off-again power through much of October and one of their outages lasted for about five and a half days, said MacPheat.

"But the most I can see it lasting is eight days," he said.

"The bottom line is that we need two full days of semi-decent weather to repair the damage."

And the residents of the village are trying to keep positive.

"It's a little hard but we're getting by. Hydro sent out eight generators so we're alternating them between houses," said Wesley Hill, a resident of Kitkatla.

"There are about 100 houses and two can share them at a time -- just to keep their freezers going because they're filled with seafood.

Some people have lost some of their seafood already. And firemen are checking everyone's houses because most of them have candles going," continued Hill.

"We're hoping the lights will come on for Christmas but it doesn't sound so good. It's supposed to blow up to 110 kilometres today. But were lucky they've sent out a generator for the water treatment plant so we're able to keep our water running. But the hot water tanks are too powerful for the generator. Some people are boiling their water. But most of them don't have propane stoves to boil their water."

Source: Prince Rupert Newspaper