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Thousands of homes were without power Monday as strong winds battered coastal areas of British Columbia and much of the province’s central interior.

For many customers, outages could continue overnight.

BC Hydro is warning customers about this possibility south Vancouver Islandas well as Gambier, Keats, Texada and Bowen Islands.

As of 4:30pm PT Monday, about 100,000 customers were still without power, according to BC Hydro — most of them in the Lower Mainland.

However, Vancouver Island also saw tens of thousands of customers lose power throughout Monday. Hundreds more were experiencing outages in the Okanagan and Kootenay regions.

“Today’s high winds and heavy rain downed trees and branches — many weakened by years of drought — causing them to contact BC Hydro’s electrical equipment,” the company said in a news release, adding that anyone he sees a power down. line must call 911 and stay at least 10 feet away.

One notice posted on its website Monday afternoon, BC Hydro says it will address the outages in order of priority.

“Our first priority is outages involving downed lines and situations that pose a risk to public safety,” the statement said. “Next, crews will focus on restoring power to critical and municipal services, followed by large outages affecting the largest number of customers, and then smaller outages.”

STOP | The downed wire starts an electrical fire:

Windstorm electrical fire on Vancouver Island

Highlands District Fire Services, near Victoria, BC, posted a video of an electrical fire started by a downed wire during a wind storm on Vancouver Island on November 4, 2024, as a reminder to stay away from any damaged energy. lines.

Wind warnings have been issued for much of the province.

“Loose objects can be blown by the wind and cause injury or damage. Strong winds may result in power outages and downed tree limbs,” Environment Canada said in its warnings.

Met Office meteorologist Lisa Erven said gusts of up to 108km/h were reported in Victoria.

“Even where there are no wind warnings, we still expect moderate to strong wind gusts to spread across the province,” she said. “This is a storm that’s not just affecting one corner, it’s really moving across BC”

“Strong Storm System”

The government’s national weather agency said a “strong storm system” hit the South Coast after midnight on Monday.

A special weather statement was also issued for Vancouver Island, where Environment Canada predicted 70 to 100 millimeters of rain could fall on the mountains of western Vancouver Island.

BC Ferries says there were multiple trips delayed due to weather conditions.

In the mountain passes of southern BC, forecasters have issued special weather statements warning that snow will blow on stretches such as the Coquihalla Highway (Highway 5) from Hope to Merritt and Highway 3 from Paulson Summit to Kootenay Pass.

“Strong southerly winds ahead of the front and aloft snow will arrive on Monday,” the statement said.

“Snow accumulations on the highest peaks, such as Coquihalla and Kootenay Pass, can exceed 8 inches per month,” it adds.

Zhong said that along with the snow and strong winds, the snow could lead to low visibility for drivers on Monday afternoon.

Storm warnings come just over two weeks later an atmospheric river brought significant rain to the South Coast, resulting in death at least four people after mudslides and floods.

Zhong said rainfall totals for Monday’s storm will not approach what happened during the atmospheric river event, but there could still be localized flooding or mudslides in the mountains.