UPDATE: As of Friday morning, power had been restored to all south Vancouver Island customers.
Thousands are without power across Greater Victoria as wind and rain sweeps across the region Thursday afternoon.
The BC Hydro outage map showed large power outages in Metchosin and Colwood affecting over 4,000 customers just before 4 p.m. Thursday.
Power flickering in westshore, i have cookies in oven. …… dear weather gods behave..enough wind and driving rain. Be safe on roads #yyjtraffic #yyj its nasty out, and please watch for cyclists/pedestrians
— Lori King (@1loriking) December 19, 2019
One of the outages is for customers in the area east of Gillespie Road, north of Battery Road and west of Metchosin road. The cause for this outage was still under investigation as of 3:49 p.m.
Another outage is reported for customers in the area south of Glen Lake Road, east of Lindholm Road and west of Albert Head Road. The outage map says it is due to a tree down across wires and was last updated at 3:47 p.m.
READ ALSO: Wet, windy weather to blame for Saanich crash
About 500 BC Hydro customers near Brentwood Bay are also without power in the area west of Bryn Road and south of Brentwood Road. The cause for this outage was still under investigation as of 3:53 p.m.
Another 43 Saanich customers have been without power since about 4 p.m. when a tree came down on BC Hydro wires. BC Hydro workers are on route to the outage in the area west of Elk Road, north of Viaduct Avenue and East of Green Mountain Road and South of Mountain Road.
Environment Canada issued a wind warning for Greater Victoria on Thursday afternoon just before 3 p.m. The weather service said strong winds that may cause damage are expected or occurring.
Southeast winds are expected to rise to 70 kilometres per hour gusting to 90 kilometres per hour near the Haro Strait late Thursday afternoon as a frontal weather system approaches. The winds are expected to ease early in the evening. Rain is also in the forecast for the region.
A two-car crash in the northbound lane of Carey Road on Thursday afternoon was also due to wet and windy weather, according to Saanich police.
READ ALSO: GALLERY: Extreme winds cancel ferries, cause mass power outages across Greater Victoria
