VANCOUVER -- A BC Hydro technician is unhurt but his truck was crushed by a falling tree while he tried to restore power in a Vancouver neighbourhood as a windstorm tore across southern British Columbia late Tuesday.
Hydro spokeswoman Mora Scott says the worker was in the vehicle when the tree came down but the truck's boom absorbed most of the impact and the worker was able to escape the shattered cab.
The incident happened at the height of the storm, which BC Hydro says knocked out power to 210,000 customers on the Lower Mainland, Sunshine Coast, parts of Vancouver Island and the southern Interior.
Scott says power was restored early Wednesday for about 184,000 customers, but another 30,000 remain without electricity, including in some of the hardest hit areas like 100 Mile House, Clearwater, Salmon Arm and Enderby.
She says crews are working as fast as possible to reach and repair many of the Interior locations, but there is no estimate when power will be restored.
Environment Canada had dropped the wind warnings and replaced them with special weather statements covering most of the south and central Interior as dropping temperatures overnight resulted in several centimetres of snow on mountain passes.
