About 24,000 B.C. Hydro customers — most on the north Island — were without power Tuesday afternoon after a windstorm pummelled the Island.
B.C. Hydro said Courtenay was among the hardest-hit areas, and several outages were also reported around Campbell River. Another 23,000 customers were without power on the Lower Mainland and the Sunshine Coast.
Trees and branches brought down by the wind caused extensive damage to the electrical system, the utility said in a statement, and more outages are expected until the wind subsides.
Wind warnings remain in place for the north Island at 2:45 p.m., but have been lifted for other parts of the Island, including Greater Victoria.
On the north Island, winds are expected shift to southwest 90 gusting to 110 km/h this afternoon before easing.
Because of the wind, B.C. Ferries cancelled some of its morning sailings, including the 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. trips between Swartz Bay and Tsawwassen.
Sailings on many routes, including those out of Swartz Bay and the Nanaimo terminals, were expected to resume this afternoon between 2 and 3 p.m.
#BCFHeadsUp #Tsawwassen - #SwartzBay route is set to resume sailings as of the 3:00pm departure in either direction. Service notice to be posted shortly. ^ml
— BC Ferries | Travel safe. Wear a mask. (@BCFerries) November 17, 2020
In addition to the Victoria-Vancouver service, B.C. Ferries also cancelled some morning sailings on these routes: Tsawwassen-Duke Point, Horseshoe Bay-Departure Bay, Vancouver-Southern Gulf Islands, and Comox-Powell River.
