High winds and heavy rains battered Vancouver Island over Christmas, causing power outages, ferry cancellations, and some damage. By Boxing Day afternoon, the storm had passed, leaving sunny skies for island residents.
High winds, power outages and ferry cancellations which persisted across Vancouver Island from Christmas Day through the early hours of Boxing Day were lifted by afternoon giving way to sunny skies for shoppers and walkers alike. Weather warnings came after a low-pressure system brought wind gusts of over 150 kilometres an hour in some coastal areas.
The strongest wind gust in the province was recorded on Sartine Island, off the northern tip of Vancouver Island, measured at 163 km/h on Wednesday afternoon. Environment Canada meteorologist Gary Lee said notable peak winds on Christmas afternoon through evening included gusts of 150 km/h off Solander Island, off the coast of the Brooks Peninsula on the west side of Vancouver Island, gusts up to 83 km/h in Tofino, 76 km/h in Campbell River and Comox. It was a little calmer in Victoria, which had gusts of around 60 km/h. Peak rainfall during the 24-hour storm period included 64 mm in Courtenay, 62 mm in Cedar, while north Cowichan saw 42 mm, Salt Spring saw 41 mm, and Victoria Harbour saw just 6 mm and Esquimalt 4 mm. Some of the wind gusts and rainfall patterns in the last hours of the storm into Thursday morning were not as high as forecast, said Lee, as the storm threw meteorologists “a bit of a curveball” and instead took more of a turn to the south into northern Washington state, said Lee. “That was a big hiccup this morning,” said Lee. The storm prompted B.C. Ferries to cancel numerous sailings on Christmas Day and in the early hours of Boxing Day until resuming most routes by 10 a.m. Ferry cancellations that continued into Thursday morning further delayed B.C. Hydro crews in their efforts to repair storm damage — especially those in the northern Gulf Islands of Quadra, Denman and Cortes. B.C. Hydro spokesperson Ted Olynyk said at its peak on the evening of Dec. 25 about 8,000 people were without power in the province, about 5,000 of them on Vancouver Island. But as soon as B.C
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