B.C. storm knocks down trees, leaves more than 200K without power overnight

Roughly 235,000 BC Hydro customers lost power as a strong winter storm passed over the South Coast Friday night, knocking down trees and prompting a precautionary closure of a highway in the Fraser Canyon.

Highway 1 reopened north of Boston Bar around 9 a.m., according to DriveBC. The stretch of road between Boothroyd and Lytton had been closed overnight due to heavy rain in the forecast and the "potential for mud/debris flows within fire-affected areas."

Environment Canada meteorologist Gary Dickinson described the storm as a "strong cold front," but one that fell within the range of what the South Coast typically sees at this time of year.

The highest rainfall accumulation was on the North Shore, with West Vancouver seeing 52.6 millimetres overnight, according to Dickinson.

The strongest winds recorded in Metro Vancouver were in the Tsawwassen area, where sustained speeds of 70 km/h were seen, with gusts as high as 91 km/h.

In an update at 5 p.m. Saturday, BC Hydro said its crews had restored power to 192,000 customers, roughly 80 per cent of those who experienced outages.

About 43,000 remained without power, with roughly half of them in Surrey, which was hit hardest by the storm.

"Drought-damaged trees and branches came down on electrical equipment during the windstorm, causing significant damage," the utility said in an earlier update.

"BC Hydro has all hands on deck responding to the storm – all available BC Hydro crews and contractor crews are working hard to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Crews are busy replacing power lines, poles and other equipment to get the lights back on."

Video from Surrey's Cedar Hills neighbourhood shows multiple trees that came crashing down overnight, knocking down transmission wires and landing on vehicles parked on the neighbourhood's streets.

BC Hydro reminded the public to assume downed or damaged power lines are live, and to stay back 10 metres and call 911 when dealing with such situations.

The utility said it expects to restore power to most households Saturday night, but there are some customers who will be without power overnight "due to the extent of the damage."