Almost 8,000 people are without power, and multiple ferry sailings are cancelled, as strong winds hit the Island Saturday morning.
Environment Canada says wind speeds of up to 90mk/h are expected for southern and eastern Vancouver Island, along with the Southern Gulf Islands.
North and western Vancouver Island may see speeds gusting up to 110 km/h over coastal sections.
The winds are expected to ease by early Saturday afternoon into the evening.
On the South Island, around 7571 hydro customers are without power. Around 272 have no electricity near Courtenay.
Updates on outages can be found here.
Many routes for B.C. Ferries have also been impacted such as:
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Chemainus-Penelakut Island-Thetis Island
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Horseshoe Bay-Departure Bay
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Crofton-Saltspring Island
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Comox-Powell River
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Powell River-Texada
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Cortes Island-Quadra Island
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Campbell River-Quadra Island
“We are keeping an eye on the weather with our colleagues from Environment Canada,” said B.C. Ferries Spokesperson Astrid Braunschmidt.
“Safety is our top priority… we know this is an inconvenience and apologize to the public… sailings will start as conditions permit.”
Passengers that had reservations will be loaded in the order they arrived at the terminal, after customers with reservations for the scheduled sailing.
Updates from B.C. Ferries can be found here.
CHEK News
