A treacherous day continues for driving on many southern Interior highways.
As of 3:15 p.m., just under 25,000 BC Hydro customers are without power in the North Thompson and the Shuswap because of heavy snow falling, with most outages happening between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. The most significant outages are in Salmon Arm, Sicamous and Sun Peaks. Outage updates can be found here.
The Trans-Canada Highway is closed right now for avalanche control work at Three Valley Gap, and is expected to reopen at 5 p.m. There have also been delays reported eastbound along Highway 1 between Chase and Salmon Arm because of at least one crash affecting traffic.
Meanwhile, the Okanagan Connector remains at a single alternating lane between Merritt and Aspen Grove after a lengthy closure because of a semi-truck fire involving hazardous goods.
Merritt RCMP Staff Sgt. Lorne Wood says police were assessing the safety of the crash site, as contents of the truck were “extremely volatile.”
The crash reportedly happened at about 1 a.m., and the highway was fully shut down until about 10:50 a.m. Transport Canada has also been informed of the crash. NL News is awaiting more information from RCMP.
Severe weather conditions have caused an outage affecting 1,853 customers around the Sun Peaks area of #Kamloops. Crews will post updates here: https://t.co/wH6CY53RvH pic.twitter.com/igH4ecYqRY
— BC Hydro (@bchydro) December 31, 2019
– with files from The Canadian Press
