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One person has died after a tree fell in Surrey during powerful windstorms across British Columbia overnight.
The Surrey Police Service said the tree fell across Highway 10 between 182 and 184 streets around 8 p.m. PT on Saturday, trapping two vehicles. One driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the second vehicle suffered minor injuries. The road was closed overnight, but has since reopened to a single lane in each direction.
It came as powerful gusts battered much of the province, leaving thousands of people without power.
Environment Canada recorded gusts of up to 90 km/h over Vancouver Island, up to 80 km/h in Prince George and up to 70 km/h in the Lower Mainland.
Power out for thousands
As of 7 a.m. PT Sunday morning, more than 63,000 B.C. Hydro customers were without electricity, more than half of them in the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast — down from about 135,000 customers across the province at the peak of the storm around 1 a.m. PT.
B.C. Hydro said the hardest hit areas include Surrey, Duncan, Port Hardy and Prince George.
“Many times if a storm particularly hits Vancouver Island or the Lower Mainland or Prince George area, we’re able to send crews from other areas to support them,” B.C. Hydro Spokesperson Whitney Deane said.
“For these particular storms on Friday and Saturday so far, we’ve really had to have crews in place in their areas, bring in contractors. All hands are on deck, but we’re responding in all regions of the province.”
Deane said B.C. Hydro aimed to have power back up for most people in the Lower Mainland on Sunday morning, and everyone else by the end of the day.
After multiple sailing cancellations across several routes on Saturday, B.C. Ferries said Sunday that weather conditions had improved and that it was returning to its scheduled service.
Wind winding down
Wind warnings remain in effect for Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, the Sunshine Coast and all of Vancouver Island south of Sayward.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has also issued wind warnings for the central Interior, including the Prince George, Stuart-Nechako and Lakes district areas.
The agency says gusts of up to 90 km/h are possible, but forecasts the wind to subside by midday.
“We have seen the worst,” ECCC meteorologist Catherine Aubrey said.
Aubrey said B.C. will get “a little break” from the rough weather on Monday, with just showers in the forecast.
But she said a new system is forecast to roll in on Tuesday bringing more wind and up to 50 millimetres of rain to parts of the South Coast, including Vancouver Island, Howe Sound and the North Shore.