A loud and spectacular bout of thunder and lightning may have woken many from their sleep early Wednesday morning but caused only minor trouble for BC Hydro.
It was enough to knock out power but only for short periods before the system automatically restored service, Hydro spokesman Bob Gammer said. It meant linemen were able to remain at home.
"We do have protective equipment that operates in the case of a fault which also could include a lightning strike," Gammer said. "And if the fault clears within a very short space of time, like a fraction of a second, there is other equipment that will reestablish the flow of power."
If an outage lasts less than a minute, it's not recorded on the BC Hydro website.
The event occurred around 4:30 a.m. and at 4:42 a.m. Environment Canada issued a warning for severe thunderstorms that may be capable of producing strong wind gusts, large hail and heavy rain. The warning remained in effect as of mid-morning.
