With winds of up to 159 km/hr the ‘bomb cyclone’ hitting Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland is far from the worst we’ve seen in recent years. As of 3:43 AM this morning, 272,000 people had been deprived of power and that number is still increasing. According to BC Hydro, “Climate change has led to an increase in extreme weather events in British Columbia, and this is something BC Hydro has been preparing extensively for.”
In a report released last November they stated, ”three in five British Columbians say the worst fall/winter storm they have ever experienced in B.C. has been in recent years. And they are not wrong. From heat waves and flooding to severe snow and windstorms, BC Hydro has seen an increase in significant weather events, underlining the importance of preparation.”
BC Hydro measures the severity of storms by damages and the number of customer outages. At the top of the list in that report were four storms from the previous five years:
- 2018 windstorm: ‘Over 750,000 customers on the South Coast in December were affected. The storm was so destructive because winds came from three different directions, topping 100 kilometres per hour in some areas. Also, more than 400 millimetres of rain fell in some areas in the week before the storm hit, which destabilized healthy trees.’
- 2022 windstorm: ‘About 420,000 customers in the Lower Mainland, Sunshine Coast, Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island.’
- 2023 windstorm: 235,000 customers on the South Coast and Vancouver Island.
- The infamous 2021 atmospheric river storm and flooding (217,000 customers).
This week’s bomb cyclone will be at lest #3 on that list, which now covers the past six years.
Three storms to note, though they fall outside the list’s parameters:
- 710,000 customers (50% of all customers) lost power during the the ice storm of 2015, which at that point was believed to be the largest outage in BC Hydro history.
- 240,300 customers were left without power during a storm in 2006.
- There was also a severe ice storm in 2017 (217,000 customers).
These reports list ‘customers’ not people and many of these customers have dependents. In the report, ‘Recent history: Most of BC Hydro’s worst storms happened in the past five years” (Nov 2023), it states”
“Of the worst storms BC Hydro has experienced, 84% of British Columbians recall at least one of them, and over half (55%) experienced a power outage during one of these events. It is not surprising then that 54% think fall and winter storms are becoming more frequent and almost 60% (58%) think they are becoming more severe. Those who live in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island are the most likely to say storms are becoming more frequent and severe—likely because most of the top storms affected their region.”
Most of the customers who lost power this week were on Vancouver Island.
There were a number of outages in our broadcast area this morning. As of 4:53 AM this morning, the largest outage affected 754 BC Hydro customers in a narrow strip of territory stretching north from the outskirts of Quathiaski Cove across to Heriot Bay and up the eastern coast of Quadra Island.There were smaller ones affecting 11 households on Robertson Road, Cortes Island, and 5 customers in 2000 to 2100 block on Shetland Road in Campbell River.
No crews had been assigned to any of these outages, yet power was restored to many custormers. Only 145 homes and businesses are now affected by that Quadra blackout, but there were 2 new outages in Quathiaski Cove and 1 in Cape Mudge. Power was restored to Robertson Road on Cortes Island, but now there is a blackout in Mansons Landing affecting 147 customers.
The number of affected areas in Campbell River has grown to 6.
While this report was being written up, there were a number of flickers in Squirrel Cove (Cortes Island) but none of them lasted for more than 10 seconds and none appeared on the outage map. There are presumbaly similar flickers throughout the storm lashed area.
As of 6:30 AM , power has been restored to 2/3 With winds of up to 159 km/hr the ‘bomb cyclone’ hitting Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland is far from the worst we’ve seen in recent years. As of 3:43 AM this morning, 225,000 people were deprived of power. According to BC Hydro, “Climate change has led to an increase in extreme weather events in British Columbia, and this is something BC Hydro has been preparing extensively for.”
In a report released last November they stated, ”three in five British Columbians say the worst fall/winter storm they have ever experienced in B.C. has been in recent years. And they are not wrong. From heat waves and flooding to severe snow and windstorms, BC Hydro has seen an increase in significant weather events, underlining the importance of preparation.”
BC Hydro measures the severity of storms by damages and the number of customer outages. At the top of the list in that report were four storms from the previous five years:
- 2018 windstorm: ‘Over 750,000 customers on the South Coast in December were affected. The storm was so destructive because winds came from three different directions, topping 100 kilometres per hour in some areas. Also, more than 400 millimetres of rain fell in some areas in the week before the storm hit, which destabilized healthy trees.’
- 2022 windstorm: ‘About 420,000 customers in the Lower Mainland, Sunshine Coast, Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island.’
- 2023 windstorm: 235,000 customers on the South Coast and Vancouver Island.
- The infamous 2021 atmospheric river storm and flooding (217,000 customers).
This week’s bomb cyclone will be #3 on a list for the past six years.
Two storms to note, though they fall outside the list’s parameters: 710,000 customers lost power during the the ice storm of 2015. There was also a severe ice storm in 2017 (217,000 customers).
These reports list ‘customers’ not people and many of these customers have dependents. In the report, ‘Recent history: Most of BC Hydro’s worst storms happened in the past five years” (Nov 2023), it states”
“Of the worst storms BC Hydro has experienced, 84% of British Columbians recall at least one of them, and over half (55%) experienced a power outage during one of these events. It is not surprising then that 54% think fall and winter storms are becoming more frequent and almost 60% (58%) think they are becoming more severe. Those who live in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island are the most likely to say storms are becoming more frequent and severe—likely because most of the top storms affected their region.”
Most of the customers who lost power this week were on Vancouver Island.
There were a number of outages in our broadcast area this morning. As of 4:53 AM this morning, the largest outage affected 754 BC Hydro customers in a narrow strip of territory stretching north from the outskirts of Quathiaski Cove across to Heriot Bay and up the eastern coast of Quadra Island.There were smaller ones affecting 11 households on Robertson Road, Cortes Island, and 5 customers in 2000 to 2100 block on Shetland Road in Campbell River.
No crews had been assigned to any of these outages, yet power was restored to many custormers. Only 145 homes and businesses are now affected by that Quadra blackout, but there were 2 new outages in Quathiaski Cove and 1 in Cape Mudge. Power was restored to Robertson Road on Cortes Island, but now there is a blackout in Mansons Landing affecting 147 customers.
The number of affected areas in Campbell River has grown to 6.
While this report was being written up, there were a number of flickers in Squirrel Cove (Cortes Island) but none of them lasted for more than 10 seconds and none appeared on the outage map. There are presumably similar flickers throughout the storm lashed area.
As of 6:30 AM, Two thirds of the affected customers have had their power restored. 95,000 customers are still without power and the overwhelming majority are on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. The hardest hit areas are currently Nanaimo, Victoria, Duncan and Ladysmith.
So far, BC Hydro has a record of restoring power within 24 hours in 95% of all outages.
All images courtesy BC Hydro; top image shows trees causing a power outage earlier this month,
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