METRO VANCOUVER - A wind and rain storm moving across B.C.’s South Coast this morning has knocked out power to tens of thousands of residents, downed trees, and caused travel disruptions.
More than 90,000 BC Hydro customers are without power across Metro Vancouver. On Vancouver Island, more than 9,000 customers were experiencing power disruptions because of the windstorm that began late Wednesday. A number of trees have fallen down on power lines, and meteorologists are warning residents to be careful of flying branches.
“We are dealing with tree-related outages so trees and branches falling on power lines,” said Simi Heer, a spokeswoman for BC Hydro. She said the hardest hit areas include
Langley, Surrey, Abbotsford, Pitt Meadows and Chilliwack. There’s also a few downed power lines in North Vancouver.
Heer said crews worked through the night to repair the lines, but she anticipated that there could be more outages throughout the day. “It’s been a very busy morning,” she said.
BC Hydro is also reminding anyone who comes across a fallen power line to stay back at least 10 metres and call 911.
Meantime, BC Ferries says the Queen of Alberni, which travels between Tsawwassen and Duke Point in Nanaimo, is holding in dock due to severe weather, notably high winds. Also, some float planes were on stand by due to the wind. Harbour Air Seaplane tweeted that select routes are being affected by wind and advised airline passengers to check harbourair.com for any delays or cancellations.
Environment Canada has posted wind warnings for Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the Sunshine Coast. A wind and heavy rainfall warning remains in effect for Howe Sound.
Residents in Metro Vancouver and the western Fraser Valley can expect winds whipping up to 90 km/h Thursday morning. Gusts are expected to ease to 60 km/h later in the morning, and then die down in the afternoon.
The agency warns that high winds may toss loose objects or cause tree branches to break.
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