Holiday week of storms and high winds hits B.C. south coast

Environment Canada has issued 24 wind and heavy rain warnings for the south coast on Christmas Day, as the region braced for the second in a series of holiday-week storms.

The agency said up to 100 millimetres of rain could drench Metro Vancouver and other areas, while winds up to 100 km/h could hit Victoria and elsewhere on Vancouver Island.

The wind and rain warnings cover most of the south coast and Vancouver Island, stretching inland to parts of the southern Interior.

1130 NewsRadio meteorologist Carl Lam says predicting the intensity of storms over the region is difficult.

“But I do think that this storm is going to live up to the hype, where we get about 30 to 50 millimetres of rain today alone, and then there’s still more rain for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and even into Monday as well. So this is going to be a very damp end to 2024,” said Lam.

The warnings came after the first of three storms moved inland on Tuesday, having brought powerful winds that downed trees, cut power and blocked roads in some coastal areas.

It had arrived late Monday, with hurricane-force gusts up to 165 km/h recorded on the west coast of the island overnight, before the weather system moved out of the region later Tuesday morning.

The strongest winds were recorded before dawn Tuesday at remote Sartine Island, but gusts above 100 km/h were also recorded at several other locations off Vancouver Island’s west coast.

BC Hydro said fallen trees caused outages on Vancouver Island, while Drive BC said the Sunshine Coast Highway was temporarily blocked by fallen power lines about 40 km west of Sechelt.

“This is a high-impact event, meaning it’s not just the rain, but when you factor the rain and the wind together, it could lead to power outages. It could lead to downed tree branches. It could lead to some property damage in some areas, and it will make travel very difficult — especially with the Christmas and Hanukkah holiday falling on such a tumultuous and active weather day,” said Lam.

Elsewhere on the Sunshine Coast, fallen trees and downed Hydro lines partially cut Hanbury Road near Roberts Creek.

The third weather system is a low-pressure system that Environment Canada says will approach southern Vancouver Island early Thursday, although there was uncertainty about its path.

The agency says an anticipated southern track would confine the strongest winds and heavy rain to the south coast.

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