San Francisco Frontiers - Second major storm brings destructive winds and outages to British Columbia

ZEBALLOS — The wind that blew outside Gerry Sullivan’s bedroom in the Village of Zeballos on northwest Vancouver Island was enough to wake him up early Sunday morning. “It was just howling, and we had thunder, we had lightning,” he stated.

Sullivan and his wife Vicki stated early Sunday that they hadn’t had power since Saturday afternoon as the second major storm to wallop parts of British Columbia over the last several days left thousands without electricity and one person dead when vehicles became trapped under a fallen tree. The couple stated they had two generators to keep the lights on and a wood stove for backup heat.

“I’m 72-years old and I’ve never ever experienced a wind like that,” Vicki Sullivan stated, adding that she could hear trees falling outside their home Saturday. An evacuation order issued after an earlier storm on Friday was still in place for 22 properties in the village after heavy rain and flooding raised the landslide risk.

Gerry Sullivan stated the village of about 120 residents is located about 42 kilometres away from the main highway along a forest service road. He stated he wasn’t sure whether the road was passable after the most recent storm. At about 8 a.m. Sunday, he stated the wind had died down but it was still raining in Zeballos.

Environment Canada issued a rainfall warning around 10:30 a.m. Sunday for the Fraser Canyon between Boston Bar and Lytton, with rainfall amounts of up to 50 millimetres expected. Rainfall warnings were lifted for northern and western Vancouver Island. A wind warning for north central B.C. warned of gusts reaching up to 90km/h until early Sunday evening. Additional warnings were in place early Sunday for parts of the Lower Mainland, the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island.

Police in Surrey, B.C., stated one person died after two vehicles became trapped under a fallen tree during the storm on Saturday evening. Officers were called to a report of downed wires and a fallen tree across a highway and found the vehicles trapped under the tree, a statement stated.

One of the drivers was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was treated for minor injuries. BC Hydro stated approximately 135,000 customers were without power early Sunday morning. That number dropped to about 63,000 as of 7 a.m. as crews worked to restore power.

The Strathcona Regional District, which includes the Village of Zeballos, stated in a statement on Saturday that a geotechnical engineer had completed an initial assessment of the area under evacuation and the district was awaiting the formal report. One of the main roads in the area, Maquinna Avenue, was reopened to essential travel, but the regional district’s statement stated stopping was strictly prohibited, “as there continues to be a risk to public safety.”

More rain is on the way for parts of B.C., with the province’s River Forecast Centre saying a third storm starting later Monday may bring in a more prolonged period of rainfall across the province’s coast through next week.

F.Young--SFF