By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
Some Clemina Creek residents were left without power for over 40 hours after a truck crashed into power lines off of Yellowhead Highway on the evening of March 9th.
June MacDuff, who lives in the area, told The Goat that she has not received any communication from BC Hydro about when the power lines will be fixed. She said that the BC Hydro power outages map had predicted the outage would be fixed by 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, but that prediction has since been removed without any update.
“It kind of ticks me off,” MacDuff said. “I just feel like because there’s only 20 properties, roughly, [Hydro thinks] we’re not as important.”
MacDuff said the outage is affecting internet access at her home, leaving her without a reliable means of communication. Because her water pump is electric, she and her husband have been melting snow over her wood stove to get water.
Additionally, MacDuff worries that the truck is spilling chemicals over the surrounding land. She said that the BC Hydro employee she spoke with at the site was uncertain of what the contents of the truck were.
“Nobody seemed to know how dangerous they were,” she said. “You would think that they would get on cleaning it up right away, too.”
A media representative for the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change confirmed that the Ministry was aware of the accident, and that a semi-truck was upside down at the crash site. However, the ministry was uncertain of whether anything was leaking from the truck.
BC Hydro was not available for comment by press time.
