Several thousand residents of North 91原创 spent the night without power after a tree took down BC Hydro lines, impacting Willoughby and Walnut Grove.
The power failure began one minute before midnight Thursday, Jan. 6 and affected an area as far north as 96th Avenue in Walnut Grove, east almost to 216th Street, west into Surrey鈥檚 Port Kells industrial area, and south in 91原创 as far as 80th Avenue.
The cause of the power failure was a tree down on lines, according to BC Hydro. Crews were on scene working on the repairs before dawn.
After schools across 91原创 were closed due to snow and freezing rain on Thursday, five schools in Walnut Grove and Willoughby had late start times on Friday, at 9:30 a.m., due to the power failures, the district announced.
Yorkson Creek Middle School along with Lynn Fripps, Dorothy Peacock, Gordon Greenwood, and West 91原创 Elementaries were all impacted.
Schools are only partly back in session this week, for special needs students and the children of essential workers, due to COVID-19. A full return to school is expected next week.
Despite the heavy snow and some freezing rain on Thursday, there were relatively few power failures in the western Lower Mainland.
By contrast, Chilliwack and Agassiz saw far more power failures over Thursday night and Friday morning.
READ ALSO: Remote Vancouver Island communities pull together in the face of deep snow, no power
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