January 13, 2022—Ha-Shilth-Sa—Page 3
Snow storm brings power outages across west coast Residents of remote communities struggle through over a foot of snow after a Jan. 5 downfall, cu•ing off access By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor The extent of an early January snowfall was clear to see on the morning of Jan. 6 in Tsaxana, where the top of an upright baseball ball was all that could be seen from the feet that had amassed overnight. Like many places in British Columbia, the Mowachaht/Muchalaht community near Gold River was buried under more than two feet of snow, forcing the First Nation to close its offices as residents struggled to get out from the heaviest dump they had seen in years. Snowfall that began in the afternoon of Jan. 5, extending into the next morning, resulted in multiple power outages throughout Nuu-chah-nulth territory along the west coast of Vancouver Island. By the morning of Thursday, Jan. 6, 402 people in Nitinaht Lake, Bamfield and Anacla were without power due to a tree that fell under the heavy snow accumulation. The power was still out by mid afternoon on Jan. 6, since electricity ceased at 9:44 p.m. the previous evening, said Nitinaht resident Crystal Amos. “The power is still out, and it’s about the third time this week,” said Amos, who lives in the community with her four children. “I do have a generator, but I don’t have a wood stove, so it gets pretty cold. It can only heat up the front living room area with a small little space heater.” Power outages are regular occurrences for the Ditidaht First Nation community each winter, said Amos. “We also deal with floods quite frequently, sometimes both,” she said. “Usually each family takes care of the elders within their family, but I do believe the elders should be looked in a little more often.” The storm also caused a transmission circuit failure for 517 people in the Ucluelet First Nation, plus another 1,745 in and around the town of Ucluelet. Another circuit failure cut electricity to homes along Long Beach and in Tofino, affecting 1,983 hydro customers. In Ahousaht a transformer blew at 8
Photo by Eva James
A snow storm dumped over two feet of snow on the Mowachaht/Muchalaht community of Tsaxana near Gold River. a.m., leaving the Flores Island commuturned to ice,” he said, noting that many nity without power until noon, while 711 locals are hesitant to use drive logging in Zeballos, the neighbouring community road out of the community. “The roads of Ehatis and the nearby Nuchatlaht com- are one lane currently. Before yesterday it munity of Oclujce were without power on was essential travel only, for ambulances the morning of Jan. 6. and emergency vehicles.” Snowfall that began in late December The power first went out on Jan. 2, had already compromised the power lines lasting for eight hours. Then early on serving Zeballos, according to an update Tuesday, Jan. 4 electricity went out again, issued during the first few hours of the and by midday on Jan. 7 John was hoping Jan. 5 storm. it would return shortly. “The continued heavy snowfall has During these outages people relied on caused extensive damage to the line generators. Thankfully 800 litres of fuel serving customers in Tahsis and Zebalwas delivered by Grieg Seafood, and a los,” announced BC Hydro. “We assessed boat from the community ventured to Esdamage using a helicopter yesterday (Jan. peranza to acquire diesel for generators. 4), and we began work in areas where it “The majority of people do have generawas safe to do so. As more heavy snowtors,” said of the community in Zeballos fall is expected, work progress will be and Ehatis. “It’s hard to do your day-todependent on the weather conditions and day stuff without utilizing electricity.” crews’ ability to safely access damaged During the winter, the major cause of areas. As a result, we expect these cuspower outages is trees falling on power tomers will be without power for at least lines, says Ted Olynyk of BC Hydro another day.” media relations. As much as half a foot of snow was on “Very heavy West Coast snow bringing the ground in Zeballos, said Ehattesaht trees down, that’s a problem,” he said, Chief Councillor Simon John, but by Fri- noting that when this occurs during a day, Jan. 7 much of it had turned to ice. storm crews are sometimes forced to wait “The snow is slowly melting, and it all for conditions to ease before assessing
damages. “The sad coincidence is that when you’re dealing with a storm event, the storm causes the outage, but you can’t fly up and do the inspection you want because the storm event prevents flying.” Personnel regularly conduct surveys of power lines by helicopter and ATV to cite any potential hazards. “Each year we deal with anything that looks like it could come in contact with our lines. Any time a tree could fail, we deal with that,” added Olynyk. “Unfortunately, a lot of times stuff that does come in contact with the lines is something that wouldn’t be identified. You can have big trees come down that cause us grief.” The snowfall has also challenged access in and out of remote communities. Amos had to sleep in her truck earlier in the week during Nitinaht’s second power outage, as snow made the road to Lake Cowichan impassable for a grocery run. By the afternoon of Jan. 6 she managed to get a ride to Port Alberni with her brother. “The roads are plowed but they are not salted, so it’s slippery and they only have a single lane plowed,” Amos said, adding that the more than a foot of snow that amassed in Nitinaht is the most she’s seen over her 12 years in the village. “Right now it’s been a struggle to get out of the community to get groceries because we just have a tiny little general store that’s open four days a week.” Electricity usage had already broken records before the Jan. 5 storm brought power outages. On Dec. 27, between 5 and 6 p.m. demand across B.C. reached 10,902 megawatts, breaking a record of 10,577 from the previous year. It was during this cold snap that temperatures dropped remarkably low levels, including -17 Celsius in Port Alberni. “BC Hydro has enough supply options in place to meet increasing electricity demand,” said BC Hydro spokes person Simi Heer in a press release. “However, if British Columbians want to help ease some of the demand on the system during peak times, we encourage shifting activities like doing laundry or running dishwashers to earlier in the day or later in the evening.”
2022 starts with a mysterious search and rescue effort By Denise Titian Ha-Shilth-Sa Reporter Ahousaht, BC – A late-night search and rescue operation on the water near Flores Island on Wednesday, Jan. 5 was called off just before midnight, sending searchers from Tla-o-qui-aht, Ahousaht and the Canadian Coast Guard home. The evening of Jan. 5 was dark, and snow was drifting down steadily on the ocean southeast of Flores Island (Ahousaht). An Ahousaht man went out on his boat to rendezvous with a fish farm company vessel just before 9 p.m. As the two boats pulled up, side-by-side, the men running the crafts met out back to exchange a set of keys. According to people that heard the exchanges on the VHF radio, at least two of the men heard whistles and a man’s voice calling for help. Nothing could be seen in the dark and the men estimated that the calls were coming from the direction of Monks Island, which is a small islet located southeast of Flores Island near Cat Face reef. The Canadian Coast Guard was notified, and volunteer searchers immediately
left from Ahousaht and Tofino. Searchers from both Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht ventured out into the snowy night to search the area where the voice was heard, but nothing was found. Jamie McNab of the Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue confirmed that that they received the call at 8:45 p.m. and the Tofino Lifeboat joined the search. She said several locals were on the water searching until 11:45 when the effort was called down. “There was no distress flare or radio call, no debris and no one was reported overdue,” she told Ha-Shilth-Sa. RCMP Sergeant Chris Manseau said the police were notified at 9:10 p.m. of a possible person in distress near Monks Island. He noted that twelve boats joined in the search. McNab said the area was thoroughly searched and, with no outstanding missing persons, the search was stood down. According to information on an Ahousaht emergency social media page, members of the Ahousaht Coast Guard Auxiliary and other volunteers were acknowledged for their efforts in the search. The post indicated that the area near Monks Island was searched for three and
Google satellite image
On the evening of Jan. 5 whistles and a man’s voice calling for help were heard from the direction of Monks Island, which is a small islet located southeast of Flores Island near Cat Face reef. is, we encourage people to please, while a half hours. boating…please make travel plans and alHarbours in the area were checked and ways do your best to check in when posall boats were accounted for. Sgt. Manseau said the matter was investigated and sible,” wrote Curtis Dick on Ahousaht’s emergency social media page. the Canadian Coast Guard concluded the It is unknown if locals would continue file. the search during daylight hours. “With the winter weather being what it
