Thousands powerless, after windstorm hammers B.C.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

VANCOUVER — High winds battered southern B.C. Monday, leaving more than 200,000 people without power and stranding thousands of airplane and ferry passengers.

BC Hydro crews struggled to repair more than 400 separate power outages that darkened many of Vancouver’s suburbs, the Sunshine Coast and parts of Vancouver Island.

The season’s worst storm to date made it highly dangerous for electrical crews to assess damage and carry out repairs until mid-afternoon. But even then, as homes began to get power back, BC Hydro warned it will still be a day or two before all customers have their lights and heat back on.

“Based on the damage we are seeing … we are advising customers it will be one to two days that the power will be out and to prepare for one to two days of outages,” said Gillian Robinson, a spokeswoman for BC Hydro.

Ms. Robinson said the damage was so extensive that it nearly eclipsed the devastating wind and snow storm of December 2006 that left nearly one-quarter of a million people without power. “This is as bad a windstorm as we had last year,” she said. “It isn’t a picky storm.

The storm started Sunday night as the wind grew in intensity, reaching a plateau at about 4 a.m. when Hydro began to witness a rolling wave of blackouts. But the storm wasn’t finished yet, with Environment Canada warning of gusts of upwards of 100 km/h in some places by noon. At least one home lost its roof in the South Okanagan where winds topped out at 90 km/h.

The damage was obvious and lasting. Observers in New Westminster watched the skies over Surrey light up throughout the night with bright flashes as falling trees and broken branches took out transformers and power lines. Debris blocked or clogged many municipal streets, and city crews in Vancouver urged residents to keep drains clear of leaves to prevent flooding. North Vancouver District closed some roads, and advised residents to stay out of parks and away from rivers that could flood quickly.

Several highways were shut down after trees fell across them or were blocked by mudslides. Northern Vancouver Island was cut off from the south in three separate places. Trees also blocked portions of Highway 7 between Ruskin and Mission and Highway 101 on the Sunshine Coast at Earls Cove.

And heavy snowfall that accompanied the storm cut off remote Bella Coola on the mid-coast from the rest of the province, dropping trees across Highway 20 in several places.

By evening, most of the roads remained closed, although the highway to Mission was reopened by mid-afternoon.

Telephone services, both land and cellular, were also disrupted throughout the area. More than 10,000 people were without one or both telephone services at midday Monday, according to Jason Macdonell, the general manager of operations for Telus’ Lower Mainland south region.

More than 50,000 more people could lose telephone service unless crews can restore electricity to more than 130 telecommunications sites, he said. Most were running on battery and auxiliary power.

The storm wreaked havoc on ferry sailings between Vancouver Island, the mainland and the Gulf Islands, as winds bashed white-capped waves onto the coast. Thousands of passengers were stranded for hours as they tried to return home after the Remembrance Day long weekend.

At 1:30 p.m., Valerie Lawrie was still in the ferry lineup after arriving at the Tsawwassen terminal more than seven hours earlier. Lawrie, who lives in Tsawwassen, makes weekly visits to look after her father, Roy, who lives in Oak Bay.

She said she wasn’t too worried about not being with her father.

“It’s better to be safe,” she said. “I’ve been on the ferries before when it’s been very rough, and it was scary.”

Harbour Air cancelled all morning float plane flights between Vancouver and Victoria. All fights from Vancouver International Airport to Campbell River and Comox were delayed.

Abbotsford resident Barb Saxton was supposed to catch a harbour plane just before noon from Nanaimo to Vancouver.

Two hours later, she and her family were still waiting for an opening.

“There’s like 40 people ahead of us,” said Ms. Saxton.

The storm is a one-day wonder, said Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips.

“It’s the first big one of the season,” said Mr. Phillips. “No doubt about it - these are really strong winds. But what strikes fear in your heart is remembering what last November was like. It was truly one of the wettest Novembers on record. People don’t want a repeat of the devastation that occurred last year.”

The good news is we’re already 12 days into November and the total amount of rain has been normal, said Mr. Phillips.

“It’s not as if trees are just sitting in soggy grounds.”