Environment Canada has issued a wind warning for parts of Vancouver Island as the second in a series of powerful storms prepares to descend on the region.
Winds of up to 80 kilometres an hour are expected over eastern Vancouver Island and up to 100 km/h over the west side of the island Thursday evening.
The agency is warning residents that strong gusts can snap branches off trees and take down power lines, so outages should be expected.
The wind warning is in effect for all of Vancouver Island except for the North Coast and Greater Victoria areas, though a special weather statement remains in effect for those regions.
Those winds are expected to ease off midday Friday before a third storm, fuelled by remnants of tropical cyclone Typhoon Songda, sweeps across the area Saturday – though the exact track of that storm is uncertain.
Wind warnings for East, West & inland #vancouverisland. Gusts to SE 100km/h tonight then SW 90 Friday a.m. #storm2of3 @CTVNewsVI @cfax1070
— Astrid Braunschmidt (@CTVNewsAstrid) October 13, 2016
Between Thursday afternoon and Friday evening, western parts of the island including Tofino could see accumulations of up to 85 millimetres of rain, while eastern Vancouver Island could see up to 34 mm in Nanaimo and 57 mm in Comox.
Greater Victoria is expected to get showered with about 19 mm of rain.
Total rainfall accumulation for all three storms was expected to be in the 200 millimetres range for west and inland areas of Vancouver Island.
Upslope terrain in places like the Alberni Valley and other western-facing parts of the island could even see upwards of 400 millimetres, according to Environment Canada's Armel Castellan.
Environment Canada is asking anyone to tweet reports of severe weather using the hashtag #BCStorm.
