Thousands remain without power Saturday morning after strong winds and heavy rain battered the province the night before.
Over 330,000 BC Hydro customers on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, the Sunshine Coast and the Lower Mainland were without power.
The Greater Victoria area saw tens of thousands of homes without power for several hours, at one point reaching 35,000 outages.
This #BCStorm system knocked down trees and branches and as a result, crews continue to be busy repairing damaged power lines, power poles and other equipment. Here’s an update from our team.
📞Report fallen power lines: 911
📱Outage updates: https://t.co/JY7BGKK8M4 pic.twitter.com/4SwIRP0QPx— BC Hydro (@bchydro) November 5, 2022
BC Hydro said the wind knocked down trees and branches — many of them weakened by the summer’s drought — causing them to come into contact with electrical equipment.
The utility company said all available crews were mobilized to restore power to affected customers.
Crews worked through the night to restore power as quickly as possible but some customers were without power overnight.
“Restoration work will continue through the day today, but due to the extensive damage, repairs could take some time, and continue into tomorrow, especially for customers in more remote areas,” BC Hydro said in an alert on its website.
Insane wind gusts currently blowing through Nanaimo, electricity has been on and off and street lights are off. Saw a flash of light that I presume was a power line or transformer damage. #BCStorm pic.twitter.com/VOBftrz0x8
— 🇺🇦Ace🇨🇦 (@AceOxv) November 5, 2022
As of 8:30 a.m. Saturday, nearly 25,000 were still without power. 15,000 of those outages are in Greater Victoria.
Environment Canada had issued a wind warning for Friday night.
The wind warning forecasted gusting winds of up to 90 kilometres per hour, with the highest winds near the water.
All weather alerts have ended for Vancouver Island.
As of this tweet, over 30,000 @bchydro customers are without power on southern Vancouver Island. https://t.co/V2CSi8uZ9L
— Victoria Buzz (@victoriabuzzes) November 5, 2022
#BCStorm update: Crews worked overnight, and power has been restored to 185,000 customers. Repairs will continue through the day as crews work to restore the remaining 145,000 customers without power. Latest operational update: https://t.co/tzt0cvKsub pic.twitter.com/vR95GSGGys
— BC Hydro (@bchydro) November 5, 2022