Monday November 15, 2021 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
Update at 4:45 pm November 16, 2021: The Malahat will be closed overnight Nov 16 to 22. November 16 to 22: Nov 16 (7pm-6am), Nov 17-22 (6pm-6am). Also, daytime traffic on the Malahat will be single-lane alternating, 30 minutes at a time, through to Nov 22. MOTI recommends essential travel only.
Update at 9:25 am November 16, 2021: Wind and rain continued through Monday evening. The west shore area — particularly Colwood and Langford — had their power out for over 10 hours (mid-afternoon November 15 into past-midnight wee hours of November 16). Highway 14 was re-opened mid-evening on Monday night, allowing access once again between Langford and Sooke. The Malahat stretch of Highway 1 has reopened this morning November 16 to single-lane alternating traffic. | Note: one older area of Langford (old Westhills / Glen Lake / Happy Valley / Luxton) has a scheduled outage coming up for 8 hours starting the evening of November 18 into morning of November 19.
Update at 5:25 pm November 15, 2021: Power outage affecting 50,923 South Vancouver Island BC Hydro customers at mid afternoon (115,446 throughout BC), down to 36,908 on South Vancouver Island by 5:24 pm. About 9,000 in the west shore (Langford, Colwood, Highlands, View Royal) and over 8,000 in the Sooke region. Current outdoor temperature is about 6C.
Hwy 1 Malahat remains closed in both directions under further notice, said City of Langford engineering around 5 pm.
Weather is still windy at 5:40 pm in the west shore, with continued rain in the forecast this evening. Wind gusts at least 90 kph.
Original article posted 9:30 am Monday November 15, 2021:
Heavy rains continue on south Vancouver Island this morning. And very strong winds with gusts up to 90 km/h are still in the Environment Canada forecast.
Travel on major routes affected, including the Highway 14 between Langford and Sooke, the Malahat section of Highway 1, and Highway one near Chemanius. Beecher Bay Road is also closed.
As of 9 am this morning, three major highway routes are partially or fully closed on south Vancouver Island.
Rainfall warning:
As of 4:43 pm Sunday November 14 Environment Canada issued a rainfall warning being in effect for Greater Victoria, with 75 to 100 mm of rain by noon on Monday. That was updated to being 100 to 180 mm storm totals by noon today. Timespan: Sunday night into Monday morning.
This is resulting from a “significant atmospheric river event that continues to bring copious amounts of rain to southeastern Vancouver Island and the Southern Gulf Islands tonight and Monday morning”.
Today Armel Castellan of Environment Canada noted that rainfall in September and October was at 200% beyond average in some areas of BC.
That much precipitation came on top of summer drought conditions, so the ability of the soil to absorb so much water at once is impacted; trees don’t have as much grip in the soil and are more susceptible to the impact of strong winds.
Most locations had already received 30 to 50 mm of rain beginning late Saturday. Heavy rain will continued last night into today, giving an additional 30 to 60 mm. It will ease late Monday morning as the system exits the region.
People are encouraged to continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada. To report severe weather, send an email to BCstorm@ec.gc.ca or tweet reports using #BCStorm.
Langford flooding:
Heavy downpours can cause flash floods and water pooling on roads. Localized flooding in low-lying areas was stated yesterday as being possible, and this is in fact happening.
The City of Langford Engineering Department this morning reports multiple flooding issues around town.
- Lodmell/Navy Court and Walfred at Lodmell
- Ernhill – road is flooded but passable
- El Paseo at Wendy
- Millstream Creek
- Bilston Creek
- Bear Mountain Parkway downhill lane just past the golf bridge – road is flooded due to the pedestrian stairway acting like a waterfall
- Bear Mountain Parkway downhill of Nicklaus – gravel outwash on road, still passable
- CRD Water has been called out to the lift station on Walfred Road
- Shaw at Arngask – Sinkhole
Sand bags available for Langford residents:
The City provides sand and sandbags for Langford residents for inclement weather, available 24 hours a day, topped up on a regular basis. If the supply seems to be low, email to engineering@langford.ca to let them know. Sand is available at these locations:
- Centennial Park (2805 Carlow)
- Firehall #2 (3213 Happy Valley Rd)
- Firehall #3 (2872 Sooke Lake Rd)
- Millstream Elementary School (626 Hoylake Rd).
===== LINKS:
Environment Canada – Greater Victoria wind warning for Nov 15, 2021
Island Social Trends Traffic Page
