West Coast storm knocks out power on B.C. South Coast
CBC News | Posted: September 30, 2013 1:12 PM | Last Updated: September 30, 2013
Thousands left without electricity after 100 km/hr winds Sunday night
More than 4,500 BC Hydro customers in Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island were still without power early Monday morning after one of the first fall storms hit the West Coast on Sunday night.
Winds of over 100 km/h knocked trees on to power lines and forced BC Ferries to cancel several sailings between Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.
In order to clear the backlog of delayed travellers on Monday morning, BC Ferries added an additional sailing from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen at 8 a.m. PT and a return trip from Tsawwassen at 10 a.m.
As of 6 a.m., there was a two-sailing wait for vehicles for departures from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay and a one-sailing wait in the other direction.
BC Hydro expects most electricity should be restored by noon at the latest, with some pockets on Vancouver Island staying in the dark until later this afternoon.
The storm also tore through the Okanagan early this morning, cutting power to about three-thousand homes, although most services had been restored before the sun came up.
Meanwhile, passengers on the Holland America cruise ship MS Westerdam remained stuck in port in Vancouver early Monday morning after the storm forced the vessel to delay departure to Oregon. A second cruise ship, the MS Statendam, was able to begin its journey to San Francisco overnight.
The strongest winds were recorded at 105 km/h in the middle of the Georgia Strait. In Metro Vancouver winds of 91 km/h were recorded at the Point Atkinson Lighthouse in West Vancouver.