Soup’s on: United Church soup kitchen marks anniversary Community A12
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012
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Storm’s fury slams Campbell River Thousands of residents spend a chilly night without power PAUL RUDAN CAMPBELL RIVER MIRROR
Campbell River felt the wrath of the lion’s roar. The proverbial “lion” of March ran roughshod over the city Monday, as Campbell River took the brunt of one of the fiercest storms to hit Vancouver Island in years. With heavy rain and southeast winds gusting between 80-135 kilometres an hour, the storm toppled trees, damaged homes and buildings, downed power lines, blew apart fences and created general havoc everywhere. And even when the winds died down in the afternoon and the sun appeared, it still wasn’t over. Thousands of residents spent a chilly night in their homes with no power as BC Hydro crews faced the monumental task of repairing downed lines and poles in several locations scattered across the city, including Quadra and Cortes islands. “Monday’s storm was intense and…severe,” said BC Hydro spokesman Stephen Watson. “Approximately 6,000 customers went through the night without power and crews hope to have those customers restored by late
ALISTAIR TAYLOR/THE MIRROR
Fallen fir trees and downed power lines on Alder Street near the Hilchey Road intersection required traffic to be diverted after one of the worst storms in years hit Campbell River on Monday.
Tuesday. There’s a chance a few customers in areas like Quadra Island and Cortes Island may have their power restored on Wednesday.” As light snow fell on the city Tuesday morning, hydro was
still reporting 256 outages across norther n Vancouver Island, affecting almost 17,000 customers. BC Hydro was hoping to have power restored to most areas in Campbell River by 6 p.m. Tues-
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day. Public work crews were also kept hopping Monday with numerous road closures due to downed trees, limbs
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and power lines. “Our priority during these sorts of events is always safety,” said Ron Neufeld, the city’s Continued on A3
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