A swift windstorm that swept across the Metro Vancouver region Friday night has left many without power, while bringing down trees that had the potential to be dangerous.
That includes more than 5,300 people living in North Vancouver, according to BC Hydro. In the district, outages were concentrated in the Lynnmour and Lynn Valley areas. At about 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, BC Hydro's outage map was showing fewer than 20 addresses in West Vancouver without power, and around 60 addresses on Bowen Island.
Capilano University's main campus was closed throughout the day, due to the Lynnmour outages, with an update to come Sunday morning.
North Vancouver resident Chris Carter contacted the North Shore News to express his concern as two large poplar trees came crashing down at Ecole Larson Elementary. One of them smashed through a goal post on the field.
Mount Seymour Parkway, between Riverside Drive and Lillooet Road, was also closed on Saturday as crews repaired downed power lines. The work caused heavy traffic delays for many entering and exiting the Seymour area.
Many of the North Vancouver outages were unresolved as of Saturday afternoon, as crews scrambled to address issues in multiple locations.
“All available crews worked through the night to repair and restore customers impacted by the heavy wind storm that caused widespread outages in the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast,” reads a statement from BC Hydro.
“Crews will continue clean up work through the day and are working as quickly as possible to get customers restored. Due to the extensive damage, this work may take some time and individual outage restoration times will be provided as soon they are available.”
BC Hydro reminded clients that a downed power line is an emergency. If you come across one, call 911 and stay at least 10 metres away.
Visit BC Hydro’s website for a list of outages and their status, as well as an outage map.
How has the windstorm affected you? Send your stories and photos to [email protected].
This article has been updated from its original version.
