Prince George, B.C. – We’re beginning to see the effects of that wind warning posted by Environment Canada earlier today.

Virtually all of the stores located in the Westgate shopping area in College Heights have lost power, vacated their buildings and locked the doors. That includes the big stores such as Canadian Tire, Home Depot and Walmart.  Those outlets have gone to back-up power sources.   And because of the mass exodus, traffic in that area is jammed.   Traffic lights, however, are working.  Power outages are also reported along 3rd Avenue downtown, with businesses there now in the dark.

B.C. Hydro reports 333 customers without power in Prince George, 382 in Williams Lake.  5-thousand customers are without power in Burns Lake, Granisle, Terrace, Vanderhoof and Granisle.  In fact every region of the province is reporting power outages in the 2-thousand rangeat this time.   And with winds projected to gust up to 90 km/h, there is the possibility of further power outages through the afternoon.