BC Hydro crews focused on Gulf Islands as 1,600 customers remain without power

The "vast majority" of homes on Vancouver Island have had their power restored following last Thursday's windstorm, with the focus ofBC Hydro crews nowon the southern Gulf Islands, the utility said Friday.

Around 1,600 customers are still without power since last week most of them in the southern Gulf Islands or in remote communities but crews expectto have the lights back on by New Year's Eve.

"There's still a few small pocket outages on Vancouver Island, but it's less than 100 customers," said BC Hydro spokesperson Mora Scott. "We do have crews working really hard to get those people back up as quickly as we can, but our big focus right now is getting customers on the Gulf Islands restored."

BC Hydro has restored power to more than 700,000 B.C. homes left in the dark by the storm.

The utility provided a revised list of estimated restoration dates for affected communities:

• Pender Island - Dec. 28
• Thetis Island - Dec. 28
• Galiano Island - Dec. 29
• Mayne Island - Dec. 29
• Saturna Island - Dec. 29
• Bruce Peak - Dec. 29
• Salt Spring Island - Dec. 30
• Parker Island - Dec. 31

In total, BC Hydro has about 70 crews working on the Gulf Islands on Friday.

The islands were the hardest hit by the storm, with strong winds causing major damage to hydro poles, transformers and power lines. In some areas, crews have hadto rebuild parts of the electrical distribution system, BC Hydro said earlier this week.

Some roads were completely covered by trees and vegetation, further complicating repair efforts.

Some returning home

Crystal Amos said power was restored yesterday to her community after one week without it. Amos is from the Ditidaht First Nation, a small community on Vancouver Island only accessible via a logging road from Port Alberni.

She said the impact of the storm was devastating.

"All of our families lost their food their freezer food, their fridge food," said Amos. One friend lost around $1,000 worth of food, she said.

Amos, who was in Port Alberni visiting family when the storm struck, said most of her neighbours were forced to stay in hotels in Port Alberni following the storm while they waited for electricity to be restored.

Amos said it's a huge relief that power has been restored but that those returning will have some work to do.

"Everybody's packing up and going home to clean up their freezers and fridges to restock," she said.

Others still stranded

Meanwhile, power outages weren't the only problem for stranded members of the Penelakut First Nation.

The ferry service the community relies on for travel between Penalakut Island and Chemainus, on Vancouver Island, has been suspended all week because the storm damaged the dock and the landing area.

Jim Chisholm, band manager of the Penelakut First Nation, said the ferry is a critical service that the community relies on.

"We don't have any stores [on Penelakut Island], we don't have any way for our people to get foodstuffs and supplies and things they need," Chisolm told The Early Editionguest host Laura Lynch on Friday. "Having the power out along with the ferry has been a real hardship for the people of Penalakut."

BC Ferries is operating a water taxi service in the meantime, spokesperson Deborah Marshall said, and hopes to have the ferry service up and running in early January.