About 1,620 Cowichan Lake residents were the first without power during a wind and rain storm on Thursday, Dec. 20.
Mainroad reported that “Youbou Road is currently closed from Creekside west due to multiple trees and hydro lines down. There are currently no detours in effect.”
RELATED: Wind gusts of 100 km/hr batter Vancouver Island as storm continues
They were still waiting to hear from BC Hydro about a time for re-opening the road.
Meanwhile, on Facebook, residents were warning their friends to stay home rather than venture towards Youbou. One resident said he could hear “sounds of trees crashing all around.”
Another person was reporting a tree down on Highway 18, leading to alternating traffic.
There were also reports of trees down at Woodland Shores, located between Youbou and Lake Cowichan.
Crews were apparently on their way to deal with the problems.
Another power outage, on the south side of Cowichan Lake, affected the areas of Honeymoon Bay and Caycuse, and a person in Lake Cowichan posted, “I can hear trees falling in the distance. Huge gusts.”
BC Hydro has power outages listed in multiple areas of the Cowichan Valley with more than 3,000 without power in Duncan, more than 2,000 homes in North Cowichan and 2,000 in Lake Cowichan.