Winds knock out power but bigger storm yet to hit B.C.’s south coast

VANCOUVER – A second, more powerful storm on British Columbia’s south coast has knocked down trees, disrupted ferries and left thousands of people without electricity.

BC Hydro spokeswoman Simi Heer says about 100,000 customers were without power at the peak of outages at about 3 p.m. on Friday.

She says crews are working through heavy rain and fallen trees to restore electricity to the 80,000 customers still without power, but she predicts the lights will remain off for some people until at least Saturday.

BC Ferries spokeswoman Debra Marshall says all sailings between Tsawwassen and the southern Gulf Islands were cancelled Friday afternoon due to heavy winds.

She says the 3 p.m. sailings on the Horseshoe Bay-to-Departure Bay run were also cancelled and at least a couple of ferries had to wait about two hours before docking.

Environment Canada says a third storm bringing even stronger winds and heavier rainfall is expected to reach the south coast late Saturday.