A windstorm that hit the Sunshine Coast last Thursday night toppled trees, beached boats and ripped down power lines between Port Mellon and Egmont.
At one point during the height of the Oct. 6 storm, at around 10 p.m., more than 5,000 Sunshine Coast homes were without power.
Most outages were caused by trees falling on power lines. The majority of homes had power restored within a few hours, although some repairs took longer.
The BC Hydro website showed about 40 houses still waiting to have power restored on Oct. 7.
Only about 10 mm of rain fell during the storm but wind gusts hit about 67 km an hour on the Coast, according to the Environment Canada website, and the strong winds wreaked havoc on boats in Porpoise Bay.
Boats moored in the bay were tossed about by the wind and one large derelict vessel – the Gulfstream, a wooden boat about 100 feet (30 metres) long – was pushed onto the shore in West Porpoise Bay near the foot of Shoal Way.
When the tide came in on the morning of Oct. 7, the boat was refloated and towed across the bay to a more secure moorage site; however, some are concerned it might break free again in the next storm.
Angelia Darnbrough has been concerned about derelict boats in Porpoise Bay for several months and said she’s been trying to get the District of Sechelt or MP Pamela Goldsmith-Jones to do something about it, to no avail.
“All they do is keep speaking to jurisdiction,” Darnbrough said.
More storms were in the forecast for the Coast this week, with a weather warning issued by Environment Canada on Oct. 12.
“The first in a series of powerful October storms will approach the B.C. coast late tonight [Oct. 12] bringing heavy rains and strong winds. A second storm is expected early Friday while a third will make landfall later on Saturday,” the alert stated. “Total rainfall accumulations [for] ... inner coastal regions may exceed 100 mm with even higher amounts near the mountains. Strong winds will also accompany these storms and at times may exceed 80 km/h over exposed coastal areas.”
Due to the storm, the cold weather shelter at St. Hilda’s in Sechelt announced it would be open this weekend, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
