Woman killed as wind storm knocks out power across southwest B.C.
Downed trees, darkened neighbourhoods follow a night of high winds in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island
Jeff Nagel
Strong winds that hit the Lower Mainland overnight on Wednesday and continued Thursday morning brought a large tree and power lines down near 46 Avenue and 200 Street in Langley.
A woman has died after a tree fell during the big wind storm, struck her home and pinned her early this morning in Port Moody, authorities say.
The 57-year-old was struck around 6:30 a.m. at her home in the Mountain Meadows area. The tree cut into the upstairs portion of the house and pinned her. Emergency crews arrived to try to save her, but she did not make it.
"We are deeply saddened at this tragic accident and our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time of loss," Port Moody Mayor Mike Clay said.
Elsewhere, BC Hydro crews were busy restoring electricity after the storm left tens of thousands of residents and businesses in the dark across southwestern B.C.
At 8:30 a.m., Hydro reported about 122,000 customers without power in the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast, with another 13,500 on Vancouver Island.
Wind speeds around 90 km per hour were reported in some areas.
Significant outages, many resulting from downed trees, were reported across the Lower Mainland, including Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford, Maple Ridge and the North Shore.
They're expected to cause traffic disruptions in some areas as unpowered traffic lights force motorists to use the four-way stop procedure.
For details on local outages and expected time of service restoration, see https://www.bchydro.com/power-outages/app/outage-list.html
The wind warning from Environment Canada has ended. Winds 40 to 60 km/h and gusts of up to 90 km/h were this morning before wind speeds subside later in the day.
[View the story "Wind storm hits B.C." on Storify]
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