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'It's all hands on deck': thousands still without power in B.C. Interior

'It's all hands on deck': thousands still without power in B.C. Interior

Tens of thousands of residents in the B.C. Interior woke up without power on Wednesday morning as crews continue to repair damage caused by a powerful windstorm.

On Tuesday, winds clocked at more than 100 km/h in some places swept across the province, downing trees and damaging infrastructure.

As of Wednesday morning, BC Hydro said 6,000 customers in the Okanagan and 2,000 in the Thompson-Shuswap were still without electricity.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us, but reinforcements are now here from other parts of the province and it's all hands on deck," said spokesperson Dag Sharman.

60 different outages in Vernon alone

Sharman said the hardest hit areas were Salmon Arm, Vernon, Nakusp and the Kootenays.

"The challenge is that there are so many separate outages. A storm like this is bringing down trees and blowing branches into our power lines and this is happening in various places."

He said in Vernon alone, there were 60 different places with outages.

Fortis B.C. meanwhile, said most of their outages were repaired overnight.

Crews work around the clock

"We had 24 hour service going on last night," said Fortis B.C. spokesperson Tanya Laing Gahr.

"We had all of our crews on standby as soon as we knew a storm was coming. They were ready to roll."

She said any remaining Fortis outages should be repaired by the end of the day. She is also reminding people to stay away from downed power lines.

Sharman said it is difficult to estimate when BC Hydro power will be fully restored.

"We really appreciate the understanding of folks as we meet this challenge."

With files from CBC's Daybreak South.