A truck driving north on Highway 101 snagged the communications lines that run above the highway and brought them down – knocking out services for hours on Friday morning.
The incident happened around 7 a.m., right next to Donley Drive, Pender Harbour Volunteer Fire Department assistant fire chief Jim Cameron told Coast Reporter.
The driver remained on scene until one of the firefighters spoke with him.
The BC Hydro line, which is higher up the pole, was not touched. At Donley Drive, there’s a curve in the highway, and the lines switch sides of the road.
On one side of the road, the lines laid flat and vehicles were able to drive over them. The other lane still had a couple of lines hanging over it by a few feet, Cameron said. Five firefighters directed single lane traffic to keep vehicles moving smoothly and safely until Eastlink and Telus arrived on scene with their own flaggers.
“I think they're gonna be there for a little while,” Cameron said of the communications companies.
Telus said that its lines were affected, which caused 13 Pender Harbour customers to have intermittent internet and home phone service challenges. "Our crews immediately arrived on scene and have been working throughout the day to repair the damage and fully restore service," said a Telus spokesperson just after 4:30 p.m. "At this time, we anticipate service will be fully restored later this evening.
"We know how critical connectivity is for our customers and would like to thank our customers in Pender Harbour for their patience and understanding."
A few hundred Eastlink customers went without internet and cable for nearly 11 hours on Friday, before service was restored that evening.
