Friday January 7, 2022 | WEST SHORE, VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Power outages in the South Vancouver Island list today Friday January 7 included, at 1 pm: several in the Juan de Fuca area (East Sooke, west of Sooke) as the wind picked up.
Strong winds were part of an Environment Canada warning, notably for the Juan de Fuca Strait area. This comes on the heels of two previous days of snowfall (January 5 into 6) during which time road conditions were poor enough to result in ‘snowdays’ for schools in some school districts and some businesses as well as cancellation of bus routes.
This afternoon started (after the noon hour) with 2,556 outages listed by BC Hydro for South Vancouver Island, which had reduced to 1,761 by 4 pm.
West shore / Sooke / Juan de Fuca:
Metchosin/East Sooke: Strong winds resulted in 2,169 BC Hydro customers without power in Metchosin /East Sooke: 1,011 in Gillespie area (from 11:54 am, crew on way for 1:20 pm; resolved by 4 pm) & 1,158 around Possession Point (from 12:31 pm south of Sooke Road, crew on way for 2 pm;still onsite at 4 pm, estimated time on 4:30 pm). The Juan de Fuca Emergency Program tweeted out to their followers about it.
Sooke: In the Phillips Road area 62 customers were without power in the Phillips Road area. Power off since 12:14 pm, crew had been assigned by 1 pm (and were on-site as of 4 pm); estimated time on 5 pm.
West of Sooke: In the Tugwell Creek area / Otter Point / Butler Road, about 131 BC Hydro customers were without power from 12:11 pm on this windy day; a crew was assigned.
Note: BC Hydro still lists the Otter Point area (and beyond past Shirley) as ‘Victoria’ in their outage lists, tho it’s west of Sooke. Crews on site still at 4 pm, estimate time on 5:30 pm.
Highlands/View Royal:
On this windy day about 20 BC Hydro customers in Highlands East of Westoby Road, south of Munns Road, and West of Highland Road were without power from 12:10 pm, crews on the way for 2:05 pm.
At 4 pm crews were still on site.
The wind warning:
All of this was following a wind warning from Environment Canada that was issued at 4:44 am this morning, saying strong winds would start this morning into early afternoon. Wind speed: 70 km/h gusting to 90, in the Greater Victoria area, especially near the Juan de Fuca Strait.
“An intense low pressure system will generate strong winds to the region beginning this morning. Across Greater Victoria, winds will generally be southwesterly 50 km/h gusting to 70 while areas near Juan de Fuca Strait will see winds of 70 km/h gusting to 90. The strong winds will begin to ease through the afternoon,” it was stated by Environment Canada in their wind warning for the area.
“Loose objects may be tossed by the wind and cause injury or damage. High winds may toss loose objects or cause tree branches to break.”
To report severe weather:
Environment Canada says: To report severe weather, send an email to BCstorm@ec.gc.ca or tweet reports using #BCStorm .
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