Powerful wind storm wreaks havoc in Vancouver

Hydro crews continue working to reconnect tens of thousands of customers who lost power as a windstorm swept across southwestern British Columbia.

On Saturday, winds of up to 80 km/h brought trees and huge branches crashing down onto power lines and cars. While no injuries were reported at the time, a woman in her 40s was struck by a falling tree and was taken to Royal Columbian Hospital with life-threatening injuries, said police.

According to an update from BC Hydro Sunday morning, about 200,000 customers around Metro Vancouver were without power as of 7:30 a.m., including more than 50,000 in Surrey.

The wildfire, which has now been 75 per cent contained, destroyed 30 homes in the community in B.C.’s Kootenay Boundary region earlier this month.

Winds gusting up to 90 km/h forced the closure of Vancouver’s jewel, Stanley Park, although the east side of the park reopened Saturday afternoon. “As we work to restore power, public safety issues are addressed first”.

“We’re hoping to restore power to the majority of customers by noon Sunday”.

“Crews might simply have to remove a branch from a line, or they have to go in and fix the line or fix the pole”, she said.

“The hardest hit areas are Surrey, Coquitlam, Vancouver and Burnaby”.

According to Environment Canada, localized flooding is also possible.

City crews are working to clean the streets of fallen trees and other debris.

Hundreds of thousands of people are still without power in Metro Vancouver.

The agency said a significant storm will affect the south coast on Saturday, with 40 to 80 millimetres of rain forecast for Howe Sound, the North Shore and northwestern Fraser Valley.