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Nearly 20,000 without power in B.C. as wintry winds lash south coast

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 09 Jan, 2024 10:38 AM

Nearly 20,000 people are without power this morning as wintry winds sweep over British Columbia's south coast and snow falls in the Interior.

The BC Hydro website shows dozens of outages, with most in the Lower Mainland, on the Sunshine Coast and on Vancouver Island, including parts of Victoria.

A warning from Environment Canada says very strong winds are expected to persist over western Vancouver Island, Victoria and the Gulf Islands until this afternoon, bringing gusts up to 90 or 100 kilometres an hour.

Crews are on-site working to restore power to 3,256 customers on #PenderIsland and some surrounding areas. They’ll provide the latest updates here: https://t.co/cqK2JoOCPP pic.twitter.com/puY1wVA4DR
— BC Hydro (@bchydro) January 9, 2024

Meanwhile, snowfall warnings cover Whistler and swaths of the Interior, extending south from Dawson Creek to Prince George, Revelstoke, Nelson and Fernie.

The weather office has issued a winter storm warning for stretches of highway between Hope and Princeton as well as Merritt, where an additional 20 to 30 centimetres of snow are forecast before the storm is expected to ease Wednesday.

A handful of power outages are also affecting a few hundred homes in northern B.C., as well as the Okanagan, Kootenay, Thompson and Shuswap areas.

The BC Ferries website shows several cancelled sailings on routes between Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island, although most appear to be scheduled on time.

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