High winds, downed trees knock out power for thousands in B.C.'s Lower Mainland

Burnaby RCMP blamed high winds for traffic delays across the city, noting that Canada Way had been closed eastbound at 15th Avenue around 11:30 a.m. (CTV)

High winds knocked down trees and caused power outages for more than 20,000 BC Hydro customers in the Lower Mainland and on the Sunshine Coast Saturday morning.

As of noon, the utility's online outage list showed dozens of outages across the region, with the largest one affecting more than 5,200 customers in Surrey and Langley.

Several of the reported outages were caused by downed trees, according to BC Hydro.

Burnaby RCMP also blamed high winds for traffic delays across the city, noting that Canada Way had been closed eastbound at 15th Avenue around 11:30 a.m.

CTV News spotted a large tree limb that had fallen across wires and apparently knocked over a streetlight near the intersection.

By 2:30 p.m., the vast majority of BC Hydro customers who lost power had seen it restored. Fewer than 3,500 customers remained without power at that time.

Environment and Climate Change Canada issued wind warnings early in the morning for Greater Victoria, the Southern Gulf Islands, eastern Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast, but not for anywhere in Metro Vancouver.

By mid-morning, the weather agency had issued warnings for parts of the region, including Richmond, Delta, Surrey and Langley.

ECCC said wind gusts up to 90 kilometres per hour were seen Saturday morning, but were expected to ease in the afternoon.

"However, a second Pacific front will approach the BC south coast tonight," the warning reads. "Strong southeast winds of 70 gusting to 90 km/h will develop this evening, especially over exposed coastal locations such as Boundary Bay."

The wind warnings across the South Coast led BC Ferries to cancel several sailings on its busiest route Saturday.