British Columbia’s Crown utility said power was cut to about 237,000 customers Monday as strong winds battered coastal areas and parts of the interior, and lights could remain extinct for some until Tuesday.

A statement from BC Hydro said the winds caused “significant damage” across Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and the Lower Mainland.

Power was restored to more than 133,000 customers, but as of 5 p.m. Monday, about 100,000 people were still without power.

Bulletins on BC Hydro’s website say the utility is asking its customers along the South Coast to “prepare for the possibility of being without power overnight.”

It says all available BC Hydro crews and contractors will work overnight to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.

It says crews will prioritize outages involving downed lines that could pose a safety risk, then focus on restoring power to critical and municipal services, followed by outages affecting large numbers of customers, then smaller outages.

BC Hydro says Surrey, Victoria and Sechelt were among the areas hardest hit by wind-driven outages that triggered Environment Canada warnings of gusts reaching speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour in the Greater Vancouver area.

The utility says it planned for the storm and had all of its available crews and contractors working to repair the damage and restore power.

A years-long drought has weakened trees across the province, making them more susceptible to wind, and the storm toppled many dead or damaged trees and branches on top of its electrical equipment, BC Hydro said in a statement.

Most of Environment Canada’s weather warnings were lifted Monday afternoon, but strong winds and heavy rain remained forecast for all of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley to Hope.

The weather bureau said wind gusts could reach speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour but would ease by early evening.

Winter storm warnings and advisories were also in effect on several stretches of highway in southern British Columbia, where the weather bureau said strong winds and heavy snow could create “near zero visibility and dangerous driving conditions.”

The warnings covered the Coquihalla Highway from Hope to Merritt and Highway 3 from the Paulson Summit area to Kootenay Pass.

The snow is expected to decrease overnight, with accumulations ranging from about 20 centimeters at Coquihalla Summit to about 40 centimeters along Kootenay Pass by Tuesday, the warning bulletin said.

Lower-level special weather advisories were in effect Monday for the Coquihalla Highway between Merritt and Kamloops, as well as Highway 3 from Hope to Princeton and the Okanagan Connector from Merritt to Kelowna, where forecasts called for snowfall ranging from five at 10 centimeters.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published November 4, 2024.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press