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95K still without power after bomb cyclone sweeps B.C. coast

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Several thousand British Columbians remain in the dark Wednesday morning after a windstorm known as a bomb cyclone slammed coastal communities.

About 95,000 BC Hydro customers were without electricity as of 6:30 a.m., according to the utility, down from around 270,000 at the peak of the weather event.

The vast majority of remaining outages, about 90,000, are on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, while electricity is out for around 5,000 customers in the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast.

Strong winds are expected to continue until later Wednesday, and BC Hydro says it expects further outages on Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast. Wind and rain warnings from Environment Canada remain in place for those regions.

“BC Hydro had all available BC Hydro crews and contractor crews working overnight to restore power, and that work will continue today,” the utility wrote in an update.

“Crews are busy replacing power lines, poles and other equipment to get as many customers restored as quickly as possible, but have encountered access challenges as a result of the heavy debris on some roads as well as areas where the wind was too strong overnight to complete the work safely.”

The winds reached upwards of 100 km/h over Vancouver Island Wednesday night, with Environment Canda recording a peak wind gust of 170 km/h on Sartine Island, off the northern tip.

Wind gusts reached 87 km/h at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal.

Several BC Ferries sailings were cancelled Wednesday morning and a number of highways remain closed on Vancouver Island due to downed power lines and fallen trees on the roadways.

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