Wind storm knocks out power to thousand of BC Hydro customers on Vancouver Island

Wind storm knocks out power to thousand of BC Hydro customers on Vancouver Island
CHEK

Strong winds have helped down power lines and left thousands of BC Hydro customers without power across Vancouver Island Tuesday night.

An Environment Canada warned of winds of 70 km/h and gusts of up to 90 km/h for Greater Victoria and East Vancouver Island.

As of 8 p.m., BC Hydro crews were busy trying to restore power to more than 2,058 customers in Oak Bay and Saanich and 2,077 in Central Saanich, Highlands, Langford, Saanich and View Royal with several reports of downed trees and branches.

A total of 8,856 BC Hydro customers are impacted on Vancouver Island, South including 2,414 on the Southern Gulf Islands.

Further north, 3,228 customers have had power knocked out by strong winds including 1,719 in Nanaimo.

Hydro warns that “We expect outages to increase until the winds abate. Crews have been dispatched to these areas to work quickly and safely as possible.” 

You can find updates from BC Hydro here

The strong winds have also delayed some BC Ferry sailings and cancelled others including the Salish Orca on the Comox-Powell River route at 7:15 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. You can find updates here.

Harbour Air is warning of delays due to the windy conditions and advises passengers to check flight status on-line here.

Ben O'HaraBen O'Hara

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