Single beaver caused mass internet, cell service outages in Northern B.C.

Kaitlyn Bailey
Prince Rupert Northern View
The Local Journalism Initiative

Updated June 13, 2022 5:01 p.m. EDT
Published June 13, 2022 1:37 p.m. EDT

PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. - Officials have now identified a beaver as the cause of a June 7 outage which left many residents of northwestern B.C. without internet, landline and cellular service for more than eight hours.

The beaver gnawed its way through an aspen tree which then fell on both BC Hydro lines and a Telus fibre-optic cable line strung along BC Hydro poles between Topley and Houston.

The resulting power outage affected just 21 customers but the fibre optics damage affected Telus customers in Burns Lake, Granisle, Haida Gwaii, the Hazeltons, Kitimat, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Smithers, Terrace, Thornhill, Houston, Topley, Telkwa, Fraser Lake and Vanderhoof.

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