Sooke Road has now opened for alternating traffic after being closed for several hours following a dramatic crash Friday afternoon.
Sooke emergency crews responded to the scene of a three-vehicle crash that, this afternoon, had left at least one person trapped in a vehicle.
The crash occurred on Sooke Road, near the Shell station, and involved two separate accident scenes and three vehicles.
Witness say two vehicles – a sedan and pickup truck – were racing eastbound when one sideswiped another pickup truck near the Shell station. The pickup truck crossed Sooke Road striking a utility pole.
The racing cars continued on for about 200 metres where they lost control near the Stickleback pub, rolling over a couple of times.
#SOOKE #SD62 Parents – school buses are impacted this afternoon due to accidents on the Sooke road. So far only bus routes 9, 20, 24 routes are NOT impacted. Bus #12 will be 40 mins late. All other Sooke bus routes are and will be delayed. Schools remain open.
— School District #62 (@SD62_Sooke) September 14, 2018
The Sooke School District sent a message to parents and guardians warning that some school buses would be late or not running due to the crashes.
For parents at Saseenos, Sooke, Poirier, John Muir, Journey and EMCS, any buses heading east of the crash sites are not running as the roadway is still closed. The district is asking parents to make alternative arrangements to pick up students.
Buses 9, 24 and W4 are running with slight delays.
Buses 5, 14, 19 are not running.
The Port Renfrew route is running but 40 minutes to one hour late.
Schools will remain staffed and open until all students are picked up safely.
Families on the West Shore are also being warned to expect some delays due to traffic congestion.
Crews are on-site at an outage affecting 1,500 customers in #Sooke due to a motor vehicle accident. They'll provide updates as available here: https://t.co/700NVDQdhS pic.twitter.com/aNWVCmRXvx
— BC Hydro (@bchydro) September 14, 2018
The accidents have caused power outages to at least 1,500 residents in the Sooke area. Crews are on site.