Heavy winds hitting Greater Victoria have caused trees to fall near main traffic arteries.
Across Greater Victoria, BC Hydro was reporting approximately 5,500 customers without power as of 1 p.m. Wednesday.
More than 17,000 are without power on southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands while 25,000 customers are without power on the northern portion of the Island.
On the Saanich Peninsula, a downed tree in North Saanich took out a powerline on McTavish Road. That outage is impacting about 230 customers.
With the strong winds, we're seeing North Saanich trees shaking and–in this case, on McTavish Rd–coming down. This one's taken down the power lines. See the BC Hydro outage map for more info about local outages and how to report a loss of power https://t.co/4oJ2R7HDQP pic.twitter.com/nu5cV39d6H
— North Saanich Fire (@dns_fire) May 18, 2022
Crews had to briefly close a southbound section of the Pat Bay Highway just before 10 a.m. after a tree fell near the roadway at Elk Lake. The transportation ministry said drivers can expect delays as traffic clears and it also warned motorists to watch out for debris caused by the gusts.
Municipalities across the region are reporting downed trees and other debris caused by the wind.
In Langford, the West Shore Arts Council’s unveiling of Global Root’s mural at the Greater Victoria Public Library branch on Lakepoint Way was postponed due to the high winds.
READ: Strong wind gusts to hit Vancouver Island on Wednesday
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