A short-term outage which affected people’s Internet at home is estimated to have affected over $300,000 worth of online commerce on the Kitimat Buy & Sell for Everyone Facebook page.

The outage lasted approximately two hours which temporarily crippled Kitimat’s largest retailing outlet.

Leading economists in British Columbia warn that sustained communications disruptions in Kitimat could be devastating to the local economy.

“Over 12,000 people are currently members of the Kitimat Buy & Sell for Everyone Facebook page,” said Donald Hogen, an economist. “Could you imagine what would happen if an economy of people with a population greater than the community of which it serves suddenly went dark? It would be pandemonium.”

Thankfully Internet was restored that same evening allowing regular business operations to resume.

“It was a close call,” said Hogen.

It is unknown how many of the page’s items were s/a when Internet was restored.