Vancouver Island, South Coast warned to prepare for Sunday storm
CBC
A storm is brewing for Vancouver Island and B.C.'s South Coast this weekend, prompting warnings from weather officials who are urging residents to be prepared.
Special weather statements are in effect for most of Vancouver Island, Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast and Howe Sound, as a strong, rapidly deepening low pressure system from the Pacific moves in.
Strong southeasterly winds of 50 to 70 km/h gusting to 90 km/h are forecast to hit the island on Sunday afternoon, persisting through the night and into Monday morning.
Those winds are predicted to shift into Howe Sound and Metro Vancouver Monday Morning, potentially reaching speeds of 50 km/h with gusts of up to 80 km/h.
The winds are forecast to subside by Monday afternoon.
"Because the centre of the storm will end up 'stalling' out or sitting and spinning just off the coast of Vancouver Island — that's our biggest risk this time around," CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe said.
"Our major wind events of the past, the ones that have taken down a lot of trees — it's because of this kind of setup. We call these rapidly deepening low pressure systems 'weather bombs' as they undergo a process called bombogenesis. Basically deepening very quickly in a short amount of time."
Environment Canada is "moderately confident" the strongest winds will be over west and north Vancouver Island, and expects to issue weather warnings closer to the storm.
Wagstaffe said winds in those regions could reach 100 km/h.
"This storm definitely has the potential for widespread damage due to winds," she added.
Strong winds can down trees and power lines, which is why Emergency Management B.C. has created a checklist of things to do to prepare for the storm:
EMBC suggests checking the BC Hydro website for information about outages, and if they're not listed, call 1-800-BC-HYDRO to report it.
The province advises never driving through floodwater during periods of heavy rain and if a car does fill with water and begin to flood, abandon it and head for higher ground.
It's small things, like a cigarette or a pair of clean socks, Rachel Montour says, that can go a long way to make you feel more human when you’re out on the street.
Several dozen members of Windsor's Chaldean community and its supporters celebrated in the cold at the corner of Marentette Avenue and Wyandotte Street East Friday, as city officials gave a secondary name to the section of Marentette between Wyandotte and Tuscarora Street: Chaldean Way.
Allison Hill says she tries to make people’s experience at the Thunder Bay Food Bank “as pleasant as possible.”
Two years after a man went missing in Scarborough, Toronto police are renewing the investigation in hopes that the public will bring forward more information.
A musical instrument created in Guelph, Ont., has been thrust onto the international stage — or rather, screen.
More than 1,000 Maritime Electric customers are without power after high winds blew across the Island Friday night into Saturday.
The Supreme Court of Canada is deliberating a case that could shape the way sentences are handed down in cases where both the offender and victim are Indigenous, which some Nunavut lawyers say could have ramifications for the Inuit-majority territory.
A man barricaded in a former church in Welland, Ont., was taken into custody early Saturday, nearly 24 hours into a standoff that began over a fence dispute.
Peel police are investigating after a Friday night shooting in Mississauga left one person dead, police said.
Another busy construction season has come to an end in London, and the city is already looking ahead to next spring when a slew of new projects are expected to begin.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has begun to lay out publicly what he sees as boundaries when dealing with China, as his government wades into a new relationship with the economic giant.
Ferry crossings are cancelled and over a thousand households are left without power Saturday morning, due to high winds and severe weather conditions.
Tens of thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers are waking up without power on Saturday morning after high winds and rain hit the province on Friday night.