Wind speeds over 30 km/h, gusting to 80 km/h meant the region's infrastructure got its first durability test ahead of the winter storm months (Vancouver Island Weather Enthusiasts Facebook)

By Alex Rawnsley

POWER ON

Brief wind storm paints bigger picture of Nanaimo-area readiness for BC Hydro

Oct 28, 2019 | 5:36 AM

NANAIMO — With wind gusts exceeding 80 kilometers per hour last week, Nanaimo and its infrastructure passed its first test ahead of the winter months.

The region’s power grid was watched closely as downed branches brought minor outages to north Nanaimo, Parksville and Qualicum Beach on Friday, Oct. 25.

BC Hydro’s Ted Olynyk said the area faired quite well, especially considering how the storm hammered the rest of the province.

“The winds were quite strong in the Nanaimo area. It lets us know if there are any trees that are weak that were impacted by the storm.”

Olynyk said the opportunity to be bested ahead of the winter storm season showed areas which need to be improved or monitored furhter.

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“You can have a really big storm come through, it takes down a lot of vegetation or trees but maybe not everything. There might be some stuff that’s just holding on or died over the summer and it’s not going to take much for the next storm to bring it down.”

Vancouver Island has three times more trees per kilometre than anywhere else in North America, which Olynyk said can make outage mitigation difficult.

If anyone sees a downed line they should stay at least 10 metres back and call 911.

No one should ever assume a downed line is dead, since it could still have a current running through it.

alex.rawnsley@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley