An overnight wind storm has knocked down trees and branches, cutting power to over 300,000 B.C. residents.
The heavy wind and rain picked up on Friday evening (Nov. 4) and by 10:30 p.m. nearly 200,000 BC Hydro customers were left without power. By morning the number of affected residents climbed to about 330,000, according to an update by the utility.
As of 6:30 a.m. on Saturday (Nov. 5) a remaining 145,000 residents are without power and the hardest hit Metro Vancouver regions are Surrey, Abbotsford, and Burnaby. In the Lower Mainland, including the Sunshine Coast, a total of around 116,000 BC Hydro customers are without power.
Several areas in Vancouver have been hit with power outages too. Some Vancouverites shared footage and the aftermath of the storm online.
Falling trees and branches, many of which were weakened by the summer drought, made it too dangerous for BC Hydro crews to access and repair some outage areas. An update from the utility states that crews are tackling damaged power lines, power poles, and other equipment as a result.
Residents can check current affected regions via BC Hydro's power outage map.
