After a round of blustery fall weather caused ferry cancellations and knocked out power to thousands, B.C. appears set for another blast of wind.
On Saturday, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued wind warnings for most of Vancouver Island including Victoria, along with Metro Vancouver, the Southern Gulf Islands, the Sunshine Coast and the Fraser Canyon.
It said another strong low-pressure system is expected to bring powerful southeasterly winds of 70 km/h, gusting up to 90 km/h Saturday afternoon.
ECCC added power outages are possible and warned people to be alert to the potential of falling of flying debris. The winds are forecast to die down towards midnight.
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Meanwhile, a large swath of the B.C. Interior from Hope north to Burns Lake is also under a special weather statement, with strong winds gusting up to 60-80 km/h that are forecast to strengthen Saturday afternoon and peak Sunday morning.
An additional cold front is expected to bring more powerful winds to the Interior on Sunday afternoon.
Heavy wind downs trees, closing roads and knocking out power in Prince George and region
B.C. Hydro is warning that more power outages could be on the way.
As of Saturday morning, about 40,000 B.C. Hydro customers were still without power following Friday’s storm, down from a peak of about 80,000.
More than 22,000 of those are in the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast, along with more than 9,500 on Vancouver Island and more than 4,400 in the central Interior and North.
At the peak of the storm on Friday, more than 30,000 hydro customers were without power on Vancouver Island alone.
Downed power lines cause sparks to ignite a tree in the Comox Valley on Friday. (Submitted by Rob Zeman)
Friday’s storm also downed trees across the central Interior and North, knocking out power to about 23,000 customers in 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, Quesnel and Vanderhoof — with about one-third of Prince George in the dark at one point.
“What we really saw [Friday] was the storm coming in waves,” said B.C. Hydro spokesperson Whitney Dean.
“So then you’re getting new outages coming online just as you’re restoring power to another area. So that left crews very busy.”
Dean said crews’ main priority remains restoring power to customers, but the utility is also preparing for potentially stronger winds on Saturday.
She urged customers to be prepared with a 72-hour emergency kit, including batteries and flashlights.
Strong winds also forced dozens of cancellations on major B.C. Ferries routes on Friday.
Ferries spokesperson Lilian Kim said the company was back to operating its scheduled service on Saturday.
But she said with more wind in the forecast, travellers should check the B.C. Ferries website before heading to the terminal.
“We’re actively monitoring the forecast,” she said. “… If conditions do change significantly we will communicate that to customers as soon as possible.”
Kim said the company understands the impact of cancellations on people’s travel plans, but that safety is always the top priority.
She added that anyone on a cancelled sailing will be booked on a new trip or offered a refund.
