Tens of thousands without power on Vancouver Island, B.C. Gulf Islands amid widespread flooding

Victoria -

Tens of thousands of residents and businesses on southern Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands were without electricity Monday as a rainstorm ravaged British Columbia's south coast.

More than 50,000 hydro customers on the South Island and southern Gulf Islands were without power by 3:30 p.m. An additional 3,400 customers on the North Island also lost their electrical service.

Downed trees and flooding cut electricity to residents in the hardest-hit areas of the Cowichan Valley, Nanaimo, Sooke and Salt Spring Island.

Environment Canada meteorologist Armel Castellan said during an emergency briefing that widespread outages were anticipated as heavy rains in the morning were followed by extreme winds in the afternoon.

Up to 180 millimetres of rain was expected to fall before noon in many areas of the island, including Greater Victoria and Nanaimo, as the province issued flood warnings and advisories near major rivers.

The flooding prompted local states of emergency, road closures, transit cancellations and ferry cancellations.