Thousands of people lost power, coastal areas were flooded, and sa国际传媒 Ferries cancelled numerous sailings on Saturday as a wind storm hit Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.
There was flooding in several areas of the capital region. The Town of Sidney warned residents to stay away from coastal areas because of danger from storm surges, and closed sections of its waterfront walkway and the southern parts of First Street and Second Street near Ocean Avenue due to flooding and debris.
Diane Cross said she woke up on Saturday morning in her second-floor bedroom on Third Avenue to the sight of waves breaking over the Sidney-Anacortes ferry terminal.
“They just smashed right in over the walkway. Our windows are totally covered in salt,” she said.
“There’s bark and wood and debris all over the walkway, all along the Sidney waterfront, but I’ve had quite a few people in my studio today and they have had no trouble getting here,” said Cross, who runs Honeysuckle Fibre Studio out of her Sidney home.
Environment sa国际传媒 issued a coastal flooding warning for much of the Vancouver Island coastline and the capital region as a deep low-pressure system made landfall over Vancouver Island.
Videos posted online showed a number of coastal streets in Oak Bay, including Beach Drive and parts of Esplanade Drive, covered with water and debris.
Roiling masses of logs could be seen smashing up against the coastline along Sidney’s waterfront and at Esquimalt Lagoon.
A portion of the Songhees Walkway near Esquimalt’s Macaulay Point Park was completely submerged during high tide.
As high winds battered the province, hundreds of thousands of sa国际传媒 Hydro customers lost power when trees fell onto power lines and other power equipment.
About 300,000 customer lost power but crews were able to restore service to about 87 per cent of them by 9 p.m., said sa国际传媒 Hydro.
About 17,000 sa国际传媒 Hydro customers on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands were without power for part of Saturday, the majority in the North Island.
The most hard-hit region was Surrey, with more than 75,000 customers without power at one point.
“All available sa国际传媒 Hydro crews and contractor crews are working to repair damage to power lines, power poles and other equipment in an effort to restore customers as quickly and safely as possible,” sa国际传媒 Hydro said, adding that about 250 sa国际传媒 Hydro and contracted crew have been deployed as of Saturday.
Environment sa国际传媒 reported wind gusts of up to 72 km/h at Victoria International Airport and 78 km/h at Vancouver International Airport on Saturday.
sa国际传媒 Hydro said crews are dealing with “extensive damage” caused by falling trees that brought down at least seven spans of power transmission lines and other electrical equipment.
Anyone spotting a downed power line should call 911 and stay at least 10 metres away due to safety concerns, sa国际传媒 Hydro said.
sa国际传媒 Ferries cancelled several of its morning sailings between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.
As the wind eased, regular service resumed for the Swartz Bay-Tsawassen route starting at 2:30 p.m. and on the Duke Point-Tsawwassen route starting with the 3:15 p.m. sailing.
A sailboat stuck against the berth at Fulford Harbour prevented Swartz Bay-Fulford Harbor traffic from coming aboard for close to an hour, sa国际传媒 Ferries said.
sa国际传媒 Hydro crews assigned to fix Quadra Island and Cortes Island power outages were delayed due to the lack of ferry and water taxi service on Saturday.
sa国际传媒 Ferries said it was experiencing “technical difficulties” with its customer service phone line and urged passengers to visit its website at for information about sailing changes, cancellations and other service notices.
In Greater Victoria today, Environment sa国际传媒 was forecasting 30 km/h winds with gusts up to 60 km/h overnight, easing to winds of 15 km/h in the morning and afternoon, with a mix of sun and cloud during the day, and rain in the evening. Temperatures are expected to hit 8 C.
Environment sa国际传媒 issued highway snowfall warnings for Squamish to Whistler and for Hope to Merritt, with 15 to 20 centimetres of snow expected between Saturday night and Sunday.
