Around 30,000 properties were still without power on Vancouver Island early Thursday morning, as B.C. Hydro crews continued to repair the damage from the “bomb cyclone” that began battering the region late Tuesday.
Environment Canada is now warning that another storm is approaching southwestern British Columbia and, while it’s forecast to be less intense than the previous one, it still has the potential to cause damage and disruption and slow down clean-up efforts.
As of 6:30 a.m. PT Thursday, B.C. Hydro said it has restored power to more than 90 per cent of customers affected by the midweek storm, in which hurricane-force gusts brought down trees and damaged infrastructure across the B.C. coast, causing outages for more than 320,000 people at its peak.
The utility said it expects crews to continue to work throughout Thursday to restore power to the majority of remaining customers. Crews were expected to arrive on Gabriola Island on Thursday morning, and Denman and Hornby islands by the afternoon.
As of 2 p.m. PT, around 20,000 customers on the Island still had no power.
B.C. Hydro spokesperson Kevin Aquino-Bravo said storm damage was making it difficult for crews to reach all affected areas.
“Crews have been working around the clock to restore power,” he said. “But there is some heavy debris on roads and highways and that definitely impacts our access into certain areas.”
Aquino-Bravo said the utility had deployed crews to the north of Vancouver Island ahead of the storm to ensure crews could reach the area before ferries were cancelled.
The areas hardest hit by the storm include Nanaimo, Victoria and Qualicum Beach, he said.
B.C. is no stranger to extreme weather — from the atmospheric river over the weekend to heat domes. You might have also heard phrases like polar vortex and bomb cyclone being used by the experts. But why and when did we start using these sorts of descriptions — and when did we stop simply calling it “a cold spell?” Our science and climate specialist, Darius Mahdavi, explains what’s going on.
Next incoming storm
Environment Canada says an area of low pressure will deepen off the coast of Washington state Thursday evening before moving north, causing southeasterly winds to increase through Friday on Vancouver Island and the B.C. coast.
Winds are expected to reach a peak Friday afternoon and evening.
The forecaster also issued a wind warning early Thursday for southern Howe Sound and Bowen Island, saying outflow winds will pick up overnight and peak Friday morning with gusts up to 90 km/h.
It says further damage, power outages and falling trees may occur, and warns drivers could see dangerous driving conditions on highways due to strong cross winds.
Meanwhile, snowfall warnings were issued in the province’s southeast, where as much as 25 centimetres is expected in the areas around Creston and Fernie by the late Thursday morning.
More snow in the region is expected on Friday and into the weekend, forecasters say.
