About 150,000 homes are without power in British Columbia after strong winds hit coastal areas and much of the central interior, and for many, outages could continue overnight.

BC Hydro’s outage map shows about 115,000 of those customers are in the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast, while power is out to about 34,000 customers on Vancouver Island, compared to nearly 46,000 earlier today.

Bulletins on BC Hydro’s website say the Crown utility is asking its customers along the South Coast to “prepare for the possibility of being without power overnight.”

The utility says its crews are working to repair damage to electrical equipment, prioritizing outages involving downed lines that could pose a risk to public safety.

It says the next priority will be restoring power to critical and municipal services, followed by outages affecting large numbers of customers, then more minor outages.

BC Hydro previously said Surrey, White Rock, Victoria and Sechelt were among the areas hardest hit by the winds, prompting Environment Canada to issue warnings of gusts reaching speeds of up to 100 kilometers to the time in Metro Vancouver.

The utility says it planned for the storm and had all of its available crews and contractors working to repair the damage and restore power.

A years-long drought has weakened trees across the province, making them more susceptible to wind, and the storm toppled many dead or damaged trees and branches on top of its electrical equipment, BC Hydro said in a statement.

Environment Canada has lifted wind warnings for eastern Vancouver Island and the central coast, but warnings remain in effect for the west coast of the island, as well as Victoria, Metro Vancouver and some parts of the Fraser Valley, as well as a large area of ​​the interior stretching from 70 Mile House in the south to Burns Lake in the north.

The weather bureau says wind gusts could reach speeds of up to 90 kilometers per hour in Greater Victoria, increasing to 100 kilometers per hour on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

In Metro Vancouver and the eastern Fraser Valley, winds gusting to 100 or 90 kilometers per hour, respectively, are expected to ease by Monday evening.

In the central interior, Environment Canada says strong winds are expected to peak at 70 kilometers per hour with gusts of up to 90 kilometers per hour.

Winter storm warnings and advisories are also in effect on several stretches of highway in southern British Columbia, where the weather bureau says strong winds and heavy snow will create “near zero visibility and dangerous driving conditions.”

The warnings cover the Coquihalla Highway from Hope to Merritt and Highway 3 from the Paulson Summit area to Kootenay Pass.

Snow is expected to decrease overnight, with accumulations ranging from about 20 centimeters at Coquihalla Summit to about 40 centimeters along Kootenay Pass Tuesday morning, the warning bulletin said.

Lower-level special weather statements are in effect for the Coquihalla Highway between Merritt and Kamloops, as well as Highway 3 from Hope to Princeton and the Okanagan Connector from Merritt to Kelowna, where snowfall amounts ranging from five to 10 centimeters.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published November 4, 2024.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press