Trees snapped and power lines went down as a massive wind storm slammed into Vancouver Island and the West Coast on Tuesday.
Photos and videos posted to social media show numerous fallen branches, intense waves and even a rockslide, all results of the extreme weather.
Monitoring systems from Environment Canada showed that winds reached up to nearly 130 km/h on the west coast of the North Island. Around Victoria, wind gusts peaked at about 80 km/h.
VicPD reported multiple intersections where traffic signals were disabled late Tuesday morning, including Cedar Hill Road and Kings Road, and Cedar Hill Road and Hillside Avenue.
Downed trees also blocked roads, including the intersection at Craigflower Road and Coventry Road in Vic West.
Saanich Police also reported a road closure late Tuesday evening on Cloverdale Avenue, between Douglas Street and Oak Street.
BC Hydro estimated that the storm knocked out power to over 192,000 customers across Vancouver Island and the mainland.
At one point an outage of nearly 9,000 people was reported in the Sidney area, which nearly covers the entire population of the municipality.
As of 6 a.m. on Wednesday, BC Hydro had restored service to 96 per cent of customers, with about 7,700 customers primarily in Chilliwack and Duncan still without power.
Several users took to social media to post photos and videos of the storm’s aftermath and effects.
Clean up #BCHwy1 SB north of Goldstream. Weather conditions, considerable rainfall & strong winds took trees & power lines down #southisland #gulfislands #shawnigan. Check @DriveBC for updates 💻Road crews & @bchydro will be working into the night #conezone #bcstorm
📸 Darryl pic.twitter.com/Oi9U7cYnM6
— Emcon Services Inc. – South Island Division (@EmconSouthVI) October 13, 2020
Dallas Rd / Spiral Beach.
The video does not do it justice.#BCStorm pic.twitter.com/PRo5XNfIRw— Douglas Pynn (@DouglasPynn) October 13, 2020
Busy day for mid island FDs. #BCStorm pic.twitter.com/Uz7YRR1NzP
— Dashwood Fire Department (@Dashwood6) October 13, 2020
Crews have made significant progress on northern #VancouverIsland and will continue to work through the night. We expect small pockets of a few hundred customers to be out overnight in the #Zeballos, #Sointula, #Ladysmith, #Nanaimo, and #QualicumBeach area. #BCStorm pic.twitter.com/QDG8zapcG9
— BC Hydro (@bchydro) October 14, 2020
Tree took out power lines and part of the pole in Chemainus this afternoon. @50ShadesofVan pic.twitter.com/3tq61C5jbQ
— Dash (@dasher_kcco) October 13, 2020
