Life on the Westcoast of Canada can be flower-blooming, mild, BBQ weather for many months of the year. That’s exactly why we’ve been named Smug Capital of Canada….or something like that. So now and again to keep us on track, it’s time for some excitement to shake things up in the form of a good old rainy, windy, power-outagey Westcoast storm.

Environment Canada has issued this special weather statement this week to remind us to batten down the hatches because a storm’s a coming…actually, three of them. The first one was relatively innocuous overnight Wednesday and early Thursday morning in Greater Victoria, with the exception of 30 to 50 mm of rain.

We woke up to Storm 2 on Friday with some thunderstorm activity in the Greater Victoria area that brought the rain in rapid fashion with over 33mm recorded falling in one hour. Flight delays at Victoria International Airport and BC Ferries delays began with ferries holding in dock at Tsawwassen, Swartz Bay and Departure Bay.

Saturday Morning Update from Environment Canada:

12:00 PM PDT Saturday 15 October 2016
Wind warning in effect for:

Greater Victoria
Strong winds that will cause damage are expected. The threshold for wind damage is typically 80 km/h.

The third and strongest in a series of storms will cross the South Coast early this evening. The storm contains energy from remnants of Typhoon Songda. Ahead of the storm, winds will strengthen rapidly out of the east to southeast to affect areas near the Strait of Georgia. This includes Greater Victoria, the Southern Gulf Islands and East Vancouver Island, where peak winds may well exceed 90 km/h by late this afternoon and remain a threat through mid-evening.

Behind the storm as it moves inland over the Sunshine Coast, gusty southerly winds exceeding 90 km/h will affect Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley West including Abbotsford, Howe Sound and the Sunshine Coast. This threat is greatest from mid-evening to early Sunday morning.

Some interesting insight on the storm in these stories:

How a super typhoon got sucked into a jet stream and spawned the storm that’s barreling right for us

Nasty weather ‘bomb’ approaches Vancouver Island

Mesmerizing graphics of the storm

Keep these numbers and tips handy:

Storm
Storm

Source: Saanich Municipality Emergency Program

Numbers, resources and websites to keep handy in event of storm or emergency:

BC Hydro Outages Map

Storm

Guide to Emergency Preparedness in CRD 

Twitter:

Emergency Info:

Weather info:

Transportation & Roads:

Utilities:

General Updates

@ocean985

If you see major water pooling in Victoria streets, call 250-361-0400.

Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada. To report severe weather, send an email to pacificstorm@ec.gc.ca or tweet reports to #BCStorm.

From the CRD’s Emergency Preparedness Guide:

During a disaster, tune in to local media for news updates via your emergency radio. Is you are online, join the conversation on Twitter for regional emergency information from @PrepareCRD and EMBC’s emergency feed @EmergencyInfoBC for provincial information, if you are online. There will be lots of rumour, opinion and speculation, especially on the Internet. When making decisions for yourself and your family, rely on news that clearly comes from official sources such as local government officials, first responders, utilities and Environment Canada.

Mel Z – Midday Show 10am – 3pm on Ocean 98.5

Filed under: BC Hydro outage map, BC Storm, CRD Emergency Preparedness Guide, Emergency Preparedness, Environment Canada, October 2016, Twitter updates, Vancouver Island, Victoria BC, Westcoast storm