Wind storm knocks out power to 30,000 Lower Mainland BC Hydro customers overnight

Power outages popped up across B.C. due to high winds and heavy rain overnight into Wednesday, leaving thousands of customers without power between the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, and the Gulf Islands.

In a post on X, BC Hydro said crews will “work through the night to make repairs and restore power.”

Between the Lower Mainland and the Sunshine Coast, BC Hydro’s website showed 31,333 customers without power as of 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.

Early Wednesday morning, more than half of those customers had their power restored, but thousands were still without power when they woke up.

Affected cities on the Lower Mainland included Abbotsford, Langley, Mission, Port Moody, Chilliwack, Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Surrey, Delta, Burnaby, Vancouver, North Vancouver, Maple Ridge, and West Vancouver.

In a statement to CityNews, a BC Hydro spokesperson primarily cites wind and heavy rain as causes.

On its website, BC Hydro further explains that several of these outages are a result of trees falling on power lines as a result of a wind storm.

CityNews Meteorologist Michael Kuss says winds were blowing at about 40 km/h through Wednesday morning, with gusts blowing around 60 km/h.

“Those were the recorded winds, but winds were really up there in pockets, bringing down branches, trees, and making a bit of a mess this morning,” he said, adding he wouldn’t be surprised if winds actually got up to over 70 km/h in areas.

Kuss says that while the winds have scaled back, the region will still see some gusts through the day.

“Most of the storm action is dropping further to the south and pulling away from the Lower Mainland today.”