First autumn wind storm over southern B.C. cuts power to thousands of customers

VANCOUVER – BC Hydro crews across Vancouver Island and British Columbia’ south coast are working hard to restore power to thousands of customers following the region’s first autumn wind storm.

Gusts of nearly 90 kilometres per hour were recorded during the height of the storm.

It hit Thursday evening, knocking out electricity to more than 34,000 customers, with hardest hit areas including Greater Victoria, Greater Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast.

#BCStorm @bchydro crews are cleaning up in West Van after high winds knocked down trees-13,000 w/out power in Metro Van-More @CTVMorningLive pic.twitter.com/9m21XdFh4Z

— CTV News Vancouver (@CTVVancouver) October 7, 2016

By daylight Friday, about 13,000 customers were still in the dark.

BC Hydro warned it could be most of the day before all the lights are back on.

Wind warnings issued by Environment Canada overnight were dropped within hours, but gusty winds were still buffeting the region in advance of another round of heavy rain due Friday night.

#BCStorm #insurance #tips – #wind happens. Know what your insurance covers. https://t.co/5o7ZlZOcZH or give us a call at 1-844-2ask-IBC. pic.twitter.com/ANeS8DETk8

— IBC West (@IBC_West) October 7, 2016

City workers and firefighters working endlessly overnight cleaning up downed wires, fallen trees #BCStorm @WestVanFireDept pic.twitter.com/H0YzHwtCl7

— GP Mendoza (@gpsmendoza) October 7, 2016

https://twitter.com/PenderSuper/status/784433326207569920

With storm season upon us, here are some answers to common questions around outages & how we restore power: https://t.co/psDYi49DjE #bcstorm pic.twitter.com/J6C6ukC47Y

— BC Hydro (@bchydro) October 7, 2016