VICTORIA -- More than 11,000 people are without power on Vancouver Island Tuesday morning as a powerful winter storm sweeps across British Columbia.
The outages are largely located in the North Island, particularly in the Campbell River and Tofino areas.
BC Hydro posted a regional alert at 8 a.m. Tuesday, saying it was aware of the outages and that it was working to deploy teams to affected areas.
“Crews are responding and have been mobilized to support restoration of any additional outages from continued winds,” reads the regional alert.
“A reminder that any fallen power lines should be considered an emergency. Stay at least 10 metres back and call 911 immediately,” adds BC Hydro.
Wind warnings have been issued for every region of the island Tuesday, except for Inland Vancouver Island.
Gusts of up to 110 km/h are expected in West and North Vancouver Island, while wind gusts of up to 90 km/h are forecasted in Greater Victoria and East Vancouver Island, according to Environment Canada.
Across the island, approximately 29 power outages are affecting 11,426 people, as of Tuesday morning.
Roughly 4,711 BC Hydro customers were without power in Campbell River alone, according to BC Hydro.
Meanwhile, approximately 2,231 people have lost electricity in Tofino due to a transmission circuit failure, while 1,699 BC Hydro customers are in the dark in Ucluelet. Nearly 500 BC Hydro customers are also without power in the Ucluelet First Nation area.
Further north on the island, hundreds of people are without power in the Port Alberni and Port Hardy areas.
Tuesday’s strong winds also come with flooding concerns on Vancouver Island. Many BC Ferries sailings were also cancelled today due to the windstorm.
For the latest updates on the power outages, visit BC Hydro’s website here.
