Crews working to restore power to parts of B.C.'s South Coast hammered by high winds

Hydro crews continueto restoreelectricity to thousands of customers across British Columbia's south coast after a fierce windstorm.

Environment Canada says wind gusts of around 90 kilometres per hour were recorded off Victoria at the height of Wednesday's storm.

B.C. Hydro reported about 121,000 customers lost power Wednesday and crews worked through the night, despite toppled trees that made access difficult in many areas.

The Crown utility says just under 14,000 customers across southern Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands were still in the dark early Thursday and roughly 4,000 were affected from North Cowichan to Nanaimo and Qualicum Beach.

The weather office dropped wind and rain warnings for southern B.C., but a special weather statement remained in place for the Hope to Merritt section of the Coquihalla Highway.

On top of snow that fell earlier this week, forecasters were calling for a further five centimetres through the morning before easing to flurries.