Tuesday April 13th, 2010 - Vancouver Island windstorm grounds ferries and knocks out power

Winds reaching 90 kilometres an hour wreaked havoc on the Victoria region on Good Friday.

Nearly 90,000 homes lost power during the windstorm and some areas were forced to wait in darkness until 9 p.m. when B.C. Hydro was able to restore power. Thousands of homes in Victoria, Oak Bay and Esquimalt were left without power and 8,000 homes in Saanich suffered the same.

Approximately 2,000 homes in Duncan, 30 kilometres north of Victoria, lost power when a tree fell on power wires.
Boats were damaged in Mill Bay, north of Victoria, and trees fell on a real estate office in West Saanich and a mobile home near Thetis Lake, causing severe damage to the home.

Additionally, many ferries were cancelled to keep residents safe. Ferries between Brentwood Bay and Mill Bay were docked, as were ferries between the southern Gulf Islands and the Lower Mainland. The ferries between Powell River and Comox were also docked and the ferries between Horseshoe Bay, north of Vancouver, and Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, were running behind schedule.

Boat owners assessed damage and sought methods to lessen damage throughout the storm.

Environment Canada predicted rain and wind gusts for Vancouver Island and the greater Vancouver area over Friday night.

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