Sooke commuters faced single-lane alternating traffic all day Wednesday on Highway 14.
A tree on the road that took down power lines had the main connector down to alternating traffic for the 10 km from Charters Road to Kangaroo Road through to Wednesday (Nov. 20) evening, according to Drive BC.
The significant fall storm that hit Tuesday evening to continued into Wednesday morning, causing havoc on streets and impacting schools.
The rapidly deepening low-pressure system arrived approximately 500 km west of Vancouver Island and was forecast to curl north Wednesday with strong southeasterly winds peaking in the morning and easing later in the day.
About 90,000 Vancouver Island Hydro customers woke without power and ferries to the Lower Mainland cancelled across the board Wednesday morning.
More than 175,000 customers had power restored – or nearly two-thirds of the more than 272,000 originally impacted across the province, BC Hydro said in a 6:30 a.m. update for Nov. 20.
Students at Belmont in Langford started the day with emergency power, but classes continued as usual, according to the Sooke School District.
“Belmont Secondary is currently without power but will open as scheduled as we anticipate the return of power this morning. Emergency lighting is in place, and bus services will run as usual for registered students,” SD62 said in an update.
Several school bus routes are delayed and some cancelled with notification going out to affected families.
Classes at Hans Helgesen, John Muir and Saseenos elementary schools opened late due to power outages, with notification sent to impacted families. Those unable to keep students at home until power was restored could drop their kids off at Sooke Elementary for supervision where SD 62 made space and staff available.
