Hundreds of Greater Victoria residents are still without power Tuesday morning after the first day of winter brought a dump of snow to the region.
Morning commuters not contending with downed trees and power lines were faced with icy road conditions, especially on the West Shore and the Saanich Peninsula.
Outages of various sizes are impacting customers from North Saanich to Metchosin as a result of Monday’s snowstorm. BC Hydro crews have been assigned to most of the outages.
As of 6:30 a.m., 40,000 BC Hydro customers were still without power but crews had restored power to approximately 130,000 of the 170,000 customers impacted by Monday’s storm.
About 15,700 of those customers are on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands – primarily in Duncan, Greater Victoria and Salt Spring Island.
Several BC Ferries sailings were cancelled Monday afternoon as a result of the weather. Tuesday morning sailings from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen are running but the 7 a.m. sailing is full, the 9 a.m. sailing is 67 per cent full and the 11 a.m. sailing is 46 per cent full.
READ ALSO: Winter storm wreaks havoc across Greater Victoria
Hartland Landfill remains closed Tuesday morning due to downed trees and powerlines along Hartland Avenue. The Capital Regional District is monitoring the situation and will update when more information becomes available. For more information, go to crd.bc.ca/alerts.
Several Greater Victoria police departments urged motorists to use caution but the winter conditions led to various vehicle incidents Monday, particularly in areas of higher elevations including the Malahat.
Saanich police asked drivers in areas north of Royal Oak to allow for extra stopping distance and be patient during their Monday evening commute.
Storm Update â„ï¸Crews are working 24 hrs around the clock & are sanding salting, moving into side roads and turning sections from main hwys Clear cold morning so please watch for frosty patches! @TranBC @malahatdrive #yyjtraffic #ShiftIntoWinter #BCStorm https://t.co/RLL24J8kwM pic.twitter.com/9JAAAnCuno
— Emcon Services Inc., South Island Division (@EmconSouthVI) December 22, 2020
#BCFHeadsUp #Tsawwassen – #SwartzBay #SpiritofVancouverIsland next scheduled sailing to Victoria at 5pm is full, and later sailings have been cancelled due to adverse weather. We recommend considering travel to #Nanaimo as an alternate route. ^ta
— BC Ferries | Travel safe. Wear a mask. (@BCFerries) December 22, 2020
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