Power cut as line snaps on Barnet
Restaurant owner says downed line on busy street 'could have killed somebody'
A downed power line along Barnet Highway led to an outage Thursday.
Photograph by: Lisa King , NOW
Business owners and motorists along Barnet Highway in Coquitlam were treated to an unplanned light show after a power line snapped Thursday morning.
According to BC Hydro, the outage knocked power out to more than 4,500 customers for four hours.
But the incident has sparked concern for the safety of the public from one business owner in the area.
The power line snapped in front of the Pasta Polo restaurant at Lansdowne Drive.
Owner Fred Soofi said he's dealt with power outages in the past, but not one as potentially dangerous as Thursday morning's.
"It's a high traffic street, it could have killed somebody," he told The NOW. Witnesses said they heard a loud boom, followed by sparks from the downed line.
Mary Aghdan was working in the kitchen at Pasta Polo at 7: 30 a.m., when she heard a bang and the power went off.
When she looked outside, she saw the wires dangling in front of the restaurant.
She said no one appeared to be around at the time, adding she was quite surprised by the whole event.
Soofi said he wants an explanation from BC Hydro as to what happened so a similar incident doesn't occur again and hurt someone.
"I could see if it was windy, but there wasn't any unusual weather," he said, adding the outage cost him three catering jobs in the morning.
In an e-mail to The NOW, a BC Hydro spokesperson noted the cause of the outage is still under investigation.
The power was restored by 11: 30 a.m. twitter.com/jercoquitlamnow
