WATCH: Winds reaching speeds of 80km/h hit Greater Victoria Sunday, causing power outages, sailing cancellations and pushing boats to shore. Isabelle Raghem reports.
Wild winds shook parts of Vancouver Island Sunday, stripping trees of their branches and leading to downed power lines.
BC Hydro said on Sunday morning, more than 65,000 people on the Island and on the Lower Mainland were without power.
Gail force gusts also affected BC Ferries. Sailings on all routes between Vancouver Island and the Mainland were either cancelled or delayed
Some passengers at Swartz Bay waited six hours for their sailing.
“I was the first car here actually,” said one man waiting in line since 6 a.m. to go to Tsawwassen. “It’s pretty brutal.”
“We were here for a hockey tournament trying to get back to see my daughter on her birthday,” said another driver, “We’ve been here since 6:30 hoping to catch the noon ferry now.”
Several sailboats washed ashore in Oak Bay’s Willows Beach and Cadboro Bay.
“This is a result of what happens when you have derelicts moored in the bay and they forget about them and then a storm comes a long and they come in clutter up the beach,” Eric Dahli of the Cadboro Bay Residents Association
Dahli is renewing calls for stricter regulations.
“Making sure that all the boats that are moored in the bay have proper buoys and proper anchors and annual inspections.”
Isabelle Raghem
