Power back on at mall

UPDATE: 6:53 P.M.

The power is back on at the Orchard Park Shopping Centre.

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UPDATE: 3:40 p.m.

The Orchard Park Shopping Centre is being evacuated for safety reasons, following a power outage.

A mall employee told Castanet no one is being allowed to re-enter the mall until the lights are back on.

Employees are asked to return to the shopping centre between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. for an update. If the power is not restored by 6 p.m. the mall could be closed for the duration of the evening, and will reopen tomorrow.

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UPDATE: 3:30 p.m.

An Orchard Park Shopping Centre employee says the mall is temporarily closed until power can be restored.

FortisBC anticipates the outage will be fixed and the remaining 301 customers affected will have their lights back on by 6 p.m.

Power flickered at the mall several times before going dark about 12:20 p.m. The mall employee said shops closed up at that time, and some employees were sent home while managers stayed on site.

The mall is open until 9 p.m. tonight, however businesses lost out on afternoon shoppers due to the outage at the height of the Christmas shopping season.

According to the mall employee, many food vendors are worried about their refrigerated product, fearing they may lose out on more than just business.

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UPDATE: 1:40 p.m.

Orchard Park Mall is in the dark as one of 301 customers without power Tuesday afternoon.

FortisBC received a report of power out at 12:12 p.m. today due to a component failure at Dilworth Drive and Baron Road . The initial outage knocked out power to 596 customers.

As for 1:20 p.m. power was restored to 295 customers, leaving 301 customers on Dilworth between Springfield and Harvey avenues, waiting for the power to come back on,.

Michael Allison with FortisBC says there is no current estimate on when power will back on, but crews are working as fast as they can to restore service.

He also says Fortis understands that returning power to the mall is a priority.

“We do recognize that people are shopping at this time of year and we do thank them for their patience,”says Allison. “Crews are out there working to get power back on as quickly and safely as possible.”

Fortis is tweeting live updates of the outage here.  

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ORIGINAL: 1 p.m.

FortisBC is working to identify what is causing a power outage in certain areas of Kelowna.

Residents have taken to Twitter to report outages near Orchard Park mall, along Springfield near Burtch and in the Mission.

A FortisBC crew is conducting a line patrol to restore the outage as quickly and safety as possible.

Castanet will have more details as soon as they are available.