Strong winds blew through Rossland Monday morning and snuffed out power to over 1,200 customers with Fortis BC for around two hours.
Corporate communications advisor with the company, Neal Pobran, said a tree was toppled by the mid morning winds that picked up speed as a weather system came down from the mountain, and fell over into the waiting lines of power coming into the city.
What started as rain turned to sleet and then into snow as the winds grew in strength Monday morning. The snow continued throughout the day, as did the winds, but a Fortis crew—that first removed the offending plant—had the power restored by 11 a.m. to over 1,200 customers in Rossland.
“It's unfortunate when you get some heavy weather and heavy winds that trees come into contact with power lines,” Pobran said.