Thousands of residents living on southern Vancouver Island remain without power following a major storm that hit over the course of Monday.
An atmospheric river hit the South Island over the course of the weekend and into Monday, bringing “copious amounts of rain,” however, as the rain diminished, the winds picked up.
Winds ranging from 40-90 km/h hit the south coast on Monday afternoon and lasted into the evening. With the soil soft from heavy rain, experts anticipated trees to be uprooted easily and fully expected significant power outages on Vancouver Island.
At one point on Monday afternoon, the number of Vancouver Island residents without power surpassed the 50,000 mark, however, BC Hydro crews have been working hard and as of Tuesday, around 4,000 people are still without power.
The largest outages are in Metchosin, Sooke, Langford, Colwood and Victoria, while some residents on Pender Island and Saturna Island also remain without power.
In Metchosin, there is a tree down across some wires in the area south of Sooke Rd. and east of Possession Point Rd. Crews are currently on-site and expect power to be restored sometime this morning.
A few areas of Sooke are also dealing with trees down on power lines, with crews also already on-site working on the issue.
In Colwood, there is a tree down on a power line and although BC Hydro says a crew has been assigned, work hasn’t begun on restoring power.
In Victoria, over 200 people are without power, however, the cause is still under investigation.
For the latest updates, residents can visit BC Hydro’s Outages Map.
CHEK News
