Thousands of people in the Parksville Qualicum Beach area were still without power this morning after a 'bomb cyclone' brought high winds that downed many trees and took down power lines.
As of 10 a.m. on Nov. 20, approximately 2,300 BC Hydro customers were without power in the Parksville area and 4,200 in the Qualicum Beach area.
Power has been restored to 5,126 customers in the Parksville area and 2,741 in Qualicum Beach.
Parkville Fire Rescue was busy overnight, with 24 calls, including 13 related to power lines, according to Fire Chief Marc Norris, plus one brush fire caused by debris on power lines falling to the ground in flames. PFD also cleared trees from two roads and one tree from a structure. Two seniors were rescued from a stuck elevator.
"At times, all Parksville Fire Rescue apparatus, save our water tender, were deployed across the fire protection area dealing with multiple co-occurring incidents," Norris said in an email to the PQB News. "We had the majority of our members (30-plus) engaged in response and dispatch activities throughout the night."
Norris thanked PVFD members, most of whom are volunteer on-call, for their great work.
"This is the busiest 16 hour period this department has had," he said, and added the previous record was 12 calls in a similar period.
The city's operations department was also busy with removal of trees from roads and responses to alarms at Jensen Centre and Parksville Civic and Technology Centre, according to Deb Tardiff, manager of communications for the city. Water treatment plant staff worked most of the night. Trees are reported down in Foster Park and Springwood Park and on roads throughout the city.
As of 11 a.m., the city's operations department was without internet service.
Qualicum Beach Fire Rescue were paged out to several calls regarding downed power lines and requests for assistance. Fire Chief Peter Cornell said the calls were similar to previous wind events.
Nanoose Volunteer Fire Department responded to approximately 20 calls for downed power lines over an 18 hour period, according to Chief Leo Groenewegen.
Deep Bay Fire Department did not receive any call outs due to the wind storm, according to Chief George Lenz.
The Regional District of Nanaimo said the following parks are closed due to the storm: Moorecroft Regional Park, Englishman River Regional Park, Benson Creek Falls Regional Park and Mt. Benson Regional Park.
RDN Parks staff are currently assessing other regional and community parks and trails, and more closures may occur.
PFD reminds residents of the importance of being prepared for weather events like this storm.
"During strong wind events there is likely to be power outages, debris on roadways and sidewalks," Norris said. "Roads may be dark and traffic lights may not be functioning (use the four-way stop procedure when traffic lights aren’t functioning correctly). Folks should be prepared to be on their own for 72 hours."
More information is available at Emergency Management Oceanside website at https://www.emergencyoceanside.ca/.
As of 11:30 a.m., about 90,000 customers in B.C. were without power, according to BC Hydro. The majority – about 80,000 – are on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Crews are busy replacing power lines, poles and other equipment to get as many customers restored as quickly as possible.
