Another storm approaches Vancouver Island as crews finish restoring power to thousands

A new storm is approaching Vancouver Island just as residents finish recovering from a "bomb cyclone" that began battering the region late Tuesday.

At the peak of the storm, as many as 300,000 B.C. Hydro customers were without power, more than half of them on Vancouver Island, as gusts of wind of up to 170 km/hwere recorded just off the island's north coast, and hurricane-force gusts brought down trees and damaged infrastructure across the B.C. coast.

Environment Canada is warning of another stormapproaching southwestern British Columbia and issued afresh round of weatherstatements for Fridaycovering Vancouver Island, the Sunshine and Central coasts, and Howe Sound with predictedwinds of up to 90 km/h.

While less intense than the previous storm, officials say the incoming systemstill has the potential to causedamageand disruptionand slow down cleanup efforts.

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Vancouver Island driver suffers scary ordeal after trees fall onto truck during storm

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Jesse Seniunas had a tree fall on his pickup truck as he was exiting Port Alberni, B.C., on Tuesday. It came after a "bomb cyclone" system brought wind gusts in excess of 150 km/h to the Island.

Power still out in some areas

By Thursday morning, B.C. Hydro said it had restored power to more than 90 per cent of customers affected, but more than 15,000 were still without power as of 6 p.m. PT with the power provider warning that some areas with "significant damage" may still face another night in the dark.

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B.C. is no stranger to extreme weather from the atmospheric river over the weekend to heat domes. You might have also heard phrases like polar vortex and bomb cyclone being used by the experts. But why and when did we start using these sorts of descriptions and when did we stop simply calling it "a cold spell?" Our science and climate specialist, Darius Mahdavi, explains what's going on.

B.C. Hydro spokesperson Kevin Aquino-Bravo said storm damage was making it difficult for crews to reach all affected areas.

"Crews have been working around the clock to restore power," he said. "But there is some heavy debris on roads and highways and that definitely impacts our access into certain areas."

Aquino-Bravosaid the utility had deployed crews to the north of Vancouver Island ahead of the stormto ensure crews could reach the area before ferries were cancelled.

The areas hardest hit by the storm includeNanaimo, Victoria and QualicumBeach, he said.

Next incoming storm

Environment Canada says an area of low pressure will deepenoff the coast of Washington state Thursday evening before moving north, causing southeasterly winds to increase through Friday on Vancouver Island and the B.C. coast.

Winds are expected to reach a peak Friday afternoon and evening.

WATCH | Octopus clings on during bomb cyclone:

Watch an octopus cling to cover during B.C.'s bomb cyclone

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Footage captured by Ocean Networks Canada at the University of Victoria shows a giant Pacific octopus as it gets knocked around by strong currents on the morning of Nov. 20 as a 'bomb cyclone' hit B.C.'s coast. Oceans Network Canada says the footage was captured at Folger Passage near Bamfield, where instruments measured waves 10 metres high, compared to the usual one metre, and vertical currents three times stronger than normal.

The forecaster also issued a wind warning early Thursday for southern Howe Soundand Bowen Island, sayingoutflow winds will pick up overnight and peak Friday morning with gusts up to 90 km/h.

It says further damage, power outages and fallingtrees may occurand warns drivers could see dangerous driving conditions on highways due to strong cross winds.

Meanwhile, snowfall warnings were issued in the province's southeast, where as much as 25 centimetres is expected in the areasaround Creston and Fernie by the late Thursday morning.

More snow in the region is expected on Friday and into the weekend, forecasters say.

It's the latest in a string of powerful fall storms, including an atmospheric river weather system in mid-October that caused flash flooding and dumped almost 300 millimetres of rain on parts of the province.

Armel Castellan, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, says the series of stormsis a product of a sustained upper trough oflow-pressure high in the atmosphere.

He says that while such a pattern is "pretty typical" at this time of year, it doesn't always last so long.

"We are dealing with an overall upper trough pattern offshore in the last two months, since mid to late September, and so that's been a persistent stormy pattern if you will," Castellan said, adding that "sometimes we deal with it in days or a week, maybe two weeks."

WATCH | Storm cut off First Nation from mainland:

This First Nations community is still without power after the B.C. 'bomb cyclone' | Canada Tonight

23 hours ago

Duration 6:43

In the aftermath of a powerful 'bomb cyclone' that ripped through B.C., crews continue to work to restore power to some residents. Curtis Dick with the Ahousaht First Nation emergency response team says while his community is still without power, he and his team are doing the best they can to take care of their community.

Castellan said that when an upper trough lasts two months or more, "it starts to become a fairly long-ingrained pattern, and then it starts to become a little bit long for the environment to handle."

He said that was the case in 2021when a trough of low pressure from September to early December was marked by two bomb cyclones, a tornado in Vancouver and devastating flooding caused by an atmospheric river that inundated the Sumas Prairie.

"It does bring us to more susceptibility because the soils are more saturated [and]yet another storm can become devastating. But in and of itself, we do see active periods of stormy pattern with an upper trough fairly often."

Castellan saidB.C. residents could expect some relief from "more of a cool and dry" weather pattern this weekend, "a stark change" from the weather over the past few days.