Much of the North Shore is in the dark this evening after a series of substation explosions knocked out electricity to thousands of B.C. Hydro customers.

The first blackouts began late this afternoon just after 4 p.m., and the outages have continued to escalate into the evening. Nearly 20,000 customers in West Vancouver and particularly North Vancouver are currently without power.

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The bright flashes could be seen across Burrard Inlet in downtown Vancouver. Residents as far as Surrey could even see the bright flashes of blue light in the sky.

High winds throughout the day have caused a number of power outages across the entire region. Earlier in the day, 40,000 customers in the Lower Mainland were without power, and outages south of the Inlet are continuing into the evening.

At this time, 80,000 customers across the Lower Mainland are without power. Lights along the Lions Gate Bridge are also out.

What are the blue flashes happening in Vancouver harbor? @CBCVancouver @CityofVancouver pic.twitter.com/TM8Wp0rPwL

— Sean Wilson (@SeanDGwilson) November 18, 2015

The blue light I was lucky to capture in this video is apparently from exploding transformers on the North Shore due to today’s wind storm. #vancouver #vancity #bcstorm

A video posted by Kent (@kentology) on Nov 17, 2015 at 6:17pm PST

@VancityBuzz – substation explosions @bchydro #Vancouver pic.twitter.com/Y5IH3XlHpZ — James (@jamestallosi) November 18, 2015

Eerie driving over a dark Lions Gate Bridge into a black North Van.. @bchydro #Vancouver pic.twitter.com/520ALMnUDi — Jill Slattery (@JillSlattery) November 18, 2015

Power outage in North Vancouver is making it difficult to wrap up our project. Wednesday, #humpday will be a push. pic.twitter.com/wjiuAnp1zc — Ken Ferguson (@kenfergusonent) November 18, 2015

Image: B.C. Hydro