Trees downed Friday on one of the Southern Gulf Islands (Photo: Twitter-BC Transportation @TranBC)
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure says the severe windstorm on Thursday knocked power lines and trees onto nearly 100 per cent of the roads on the Southern Gulf Islands and many across Vancouver Island.
At 11 a.m. the ministry provided the following numbers for roads affected with issues like full closures, lane closures, and hazards:
- Salt Spring Island — 80 per cent
- Mayne Island — 50 per cent
- Pender Island — 50 per cent
- Saturna Island — 50 per cent
- Thetis Island — less than 50 per cent
- Galiano Island — 10 per cent
The following areas have minor damage from trees and most roads open/operational:
- Thetis Island — 50 per cent
- Galiano Island— 10 per cent
- Gabriola Island— 10 per cent
On Quadra Island all roads are open with some minor damage, and Hornby, Denman, Cortes, Mudge, De Courcey and Lasqueti Islands have no known issues.
On Vancouver Island some roads and traffic lights are still out, however on major routes like the Trans Canada Highway power has been restored and routes cleared.
Updates on road conditions can be found here and here.
B.C. Hydro is calling Thursday’s storm the worst it has faced in 20 years, and says over half-a-million were without power in the province at the peak of the outages.
They are working to restore power but some 40,000 on the Island are still in the dark. Some customers may not have power until after Christmas.
READ MORE: 40,000 still without power on Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands, days until some will be restored.
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