A driver was killed and about 135,000 customers were left without electricity at the peak of the outages as a second atmospheric river storm struck British Columbia’s coast overnight into Sunday. Strong winds and heavy rain brought down trees and power lines, with another storm expected on Monday.
The storm, which arrived overnight on 7 and 8 November, brought gusts of about 90 km/h and widespread damage. It followed a first storm on Friday that had already brought down trees across the Lower Mainland, leaving electricity crews dealing with successive rounds of disruption.
BC Hydro said the number of customers without power fell from about 135,000 at 1am on Sunday to roughly 63,000 by 7am. Surrey, Duncan, Port Hardy and Prince George were among the hardest-hit areas as crews worked through the night to restore supplies.
Driver killed on Highway 10
Surrey police said a driver died after a tree and live power lines fell across Highway 10, west of 184 Street, at about 7:58pm on Saturday. Two vehicles were trapped by the fallen tree and lines.
The driver of the second vehicle suffered minor injuries. They were treated but were not taken to hospital. The fatal incident occurred on Saturday evening, before the electricity outages reached their overnight peak.
The death was the most serious consequence reported in the supplied information about the second storm. The combination of fallen trees and live electrical lines also formed part of the damage confronting emergency services and the utility as the weather moved across the province.
The first storm had already left trees down across the Lower Mainland on Friday. Saturday’s fatal incident therefore came during a continuing period of severe weather, rather than after an uninterrupted recovery from the earlier storm.
Thousands still without electricity on Sunday morning
BC Hydro said more than 380,000 customers had lost power since the first storm arrived on Friday. About 317,000 had been reconnected by Sunday morning, while roughly 63,000 remained without electricity at 7am.
The figures describe different stages of the disruption. The total of more than 380,000 covers customers affected across the storms since Friday, while the 135,000 figure was the number without power at the height of the overnight outages on Sunday.
Between 1am and 7am, the number still disconnected fell by about 72,000. That reduction reflected substantial progress overnight, although tens of thousands of customers were still waiting for their electricity supply to return as Sunday began.
The utility said crews would work around the clock until every customer was reconnected. Its restoration effort continued with only a short interval before the next storm forecast for Monday, when a longer spell of rain was possible.
The hardest-hit locations included Surrey in the Lower Mainland, Duncan and Port Hardy on Vancouver Island, and Prince George in the Interior. The spread of affected communities showed that the disruption was not confined to one part of British Columbia.
Wind and rain warnings cover coast and Interior
Environment Canada issued wind and rainfall warnings for Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. The warnings included gusts reaching about 90 km/h and rainfall of up to 50mm in places. Special weather statements were also issued for the Interior.
The second storm was part of a series driven by atmospheric rivers. With damaging weather arriving on Friday and again overnight into Sunday, electricity restoration and transport recovery were taking place between successive storms rather than after the weather had fully settled.
BC Ferries restored most sailings on Sunday. That marked an improvement in ferry services following the disruption, although the restoration of most sailings did not mean that every service had resumed.
The ferry recovery and falling outage numbers provided two indications that services were being restored on Sunday. Both developments came while warnings remained part of the wider weather picture and forecasters were looking ahead to a third storm.
Third storm expected on Monday
Forecasters warned that Monday’s storm could bring a longer spell of rain. The duration of that rainfall remained a forecast, rather than an established outcome, but it raised the prospect of another period of wet weather following the weekend damage.
The immediate task for BC Hydro was to reconnect the customers still without power. Its commitment to continuous work extended beyond the substantial number already restored, with about 63,000 customers still affected at the Sunday morning update.
By Sunday, British Columbia was facing recovery from two storms while preparing for a third. Most ferry sailings had resumed and electricity outages had fallen sharply from their overnight peak, but restoration work remained unfinished and further rain was expected on Monday.
