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Vancouver got slammed by its first major storm and it was messy (PHOTOS/VIDEOS)

Claire Fenton
Claire Fenton
|
Oct 28 2022, 4:31 pm
Vancouver got slammed by its first major storm and it was messy (PHOTOS/VIDEOS)
photoschmidt/Shutterstock

What a storm!

Vancouver’s first major rain and wind event slammed into the region on Thursday and the cleanup continues Friday in its wake.

With many trees downed, and residents without power, it was a big wake-up call for many residents who have been lulled into a relatively easy fall so far with unseasonably warm temperatures and record-breaking drought.

Raincouver has returned.

But it all ended quickly with an estimated 50 mm to 70 mm of heavy rain soaking Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and up the Sunshine Coast throughout the past 24 hours.

With areas like Squamish, Port Coquitlam, and more seeing even more rain.

Many low-lying areas saw some localized flooding in the form of deep puddles; however with rain in the forecast for the next several days and another storm approaching, residents are urged to take measures to clear their neighbourhood drains to prevent even more problems down the road.

Literally.

“An atmospheric river will bring continuous rain and mild temperatures to the south coast from Saturday night to Sunday night. Significant amounts of rainfall will fall during this period and rainfall warnings are likely to be issued as the event nears,” Environment and Climate Change Canada said Friday morning about what’s in store.


At this time, it doesn’t appear that the wind will be as bad as it was on Thursday.

Many people online said it was the wind, not the rain, that blew them away.

Environment and Climate Change Canada has since lifted the special weather statement for Metro Vancouver due to high winds.

But for some time, the gusts wreaked havoc on BC Ferries passengers through some route cancellations and led to several fallen trees.

Sad, soggy Halloween decorations

Many pointed out that the storm hit just when folks had gotten their front yard set up in perfect order. With just days to go before Halloween, many blow-up ghosts and ghouls ended up taking the brunt of the heavy winds and it’s unclear if all were able to be repaired — or found — after they had been relocated down the block.

One Twitter user said in hindsight that the storm had bigger impacts than just on the decorations.

Roads were a mess

Highway 1 was closed through Coquitlam Thursday afternoon while BC Hydro completed repairs to power lines, the Ministry of Transportation said in a news release just before 2:30 pm.

Over in Richmond, Bridgeport Road was closed between Viking Way and No. 6 Road because of downed hydro lines, according to Richmond RCMP.

There were also several accidents, at one point leading to bridge closures and hours-long backups. It’s been a while since commuters saw that level of mayhem during the evening drive home.

“Power-less” residents deal with outages

Thousands of customers were without power because of the storm, according to BC Hydro’s outage map. As of Friday morning, 99,000 of the 100,000 customers who were left without electricity Thursday have been able to get back on the grid.

“Crews will continue to work throughout the day and BC Hydro expects to have all remaining customers restored today – with the possible exception of small pockets of customers in more remote areas in the North,” BC Hydro said in a statement Friday.

With files from Nikitha Martins and Megan Devlin.

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