Wind storm wreaks havoc in Metro Vancouver, sending trees crashing down into homes and cars

Power has been restored for more than 80 per cent of BC Hydro customers after Friday’s extreme wind storm, the utility says – but crews will be working into the night to repair the "extensive damage."

As many as 330,000 customers lost power at some point overnight Friday, as strong winds and heavy rains knocked down trees weakened by drought over the summer and fall.

As of 5:00 p.m. Saturday, BC Hydro said only 55,000 customers remained without power.

“This is definitely a significant storm for us,” spokesperson, Mora Scott told CTV News.

"It's basically all hands on deck right now so we have all available BC hydro crews and contractor crews working and they'll continue to work around the clock until everyone’s restored,” she said.

While the lights are back on for most, the storm left significant destruction in its wake.

This photo shared on Twitter by BC Hydro shows a tree down in Vancouver after a powerful windstorm in November of 2022.

TREE CRASHES INTO HOME

In East Vancouver a massive tree was ripped up from the ground, tearing up the sidewalk, before crashing into the home of Sharlene Tang.

“I was in my children’s room and said, 'Oh my god the leaves are against the window, where the heck is the tree?'”

A tree crashed into an East Vancouver home during a windstorm.

Tang says she arrived home through the back door just ten minutes after the tree crashed down around midnight.

"I came down I opened our door, there you go -- the tree's everywhere. It's like a jungle,” she said.

A tree crashed into an East Vancouver home during a windstorm.

She says her fence is significantly damaged but hasn’t been able to asses the damage to the house as the tree has yet to be cleared.

Tang says she had long feared that particular tree could be dangerous during a storm, and thinks the city should have remove several similar ones on her street.

“I’ve seen so much damage that the branches of these trees have made,” she said.

"It's so upsetting, like really upsetting, I’m so mad. It could have been my family it could have been me.”

MORE DAMAGE

On Main Street at East 23 Avenue, another tree smashed down and crashed two vehicles, while narrowly missing a house.

This photo shows some of the damage after a windstorm tore through Metro Vancouver in November of 2022.

This photo shows some of the damage after a windstorm tore through Metro Vancouver in November of 2022.

In Burnaby, another vehicle suffered a similar fate after a tree came tumbling down.

Just down the block the street signs were significantly bent.

No injuries have been reported in any of these incidents.

This photo shows a sign damaged in a wind storm.