Some Sunshine Coast customers may not have power restored for another day, B.C. Hydro says

People on the Sunshine Coast who lost power after strong winds battered coastal areas of British Columbia on Monday may not have power until Wednesday, according to B.C. Hydro.

In a statement Tuesday morning, the utility said crews had restored power to 95 per cent of the 290,000 customers affected by the storm.

According to B.C. Hydro's outage map and list, more than 9,000 customers in the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast were still without electricity as of 10:30 a.m. PT. Around 4,000 of those customers were in the Sunshine Coast area.

Power hadalso not been restored for more than 4,700 customers on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.

B.C. Hydro spokesperson Mora Scott said crews are working to replace dozens of spans of power lines as well as power poles knocked down by toppled trees.

But she said extensive damage on the Sunshine Coast is making the task difficult.

"It actually took crews most of yesterday to actually just clear debris from the road. We are bringing in specialized pieces of equipment into those areas as well as specialized crews begin the restoration works," Scott said in an interview.

"There is a chance it could take longer than hoped to get power restored in those areas. It may be today, but it could be tomorrow."

In response to the windstorm, theSunshine Coast Regional District, which covers the Lower Coast area between Gibsons and Earls Cove,has activated an emergency operations centreso emergency staff can provide support to partner agencies such as B.C. Hydro and local fire departments as needed.

Drought making things worse

November is just the start of storm season in B.C., and a multi-year drought in the province is making tree branches more likely to break, or trees to come down completely.

"There are a lot of dead and damaged trees out there that make them more susceptible to wind. So we saw a number of trees and branches come down onto our equipment, damaging things like power lines, power pools and other electrical equipment," Scott said.

She said debris on main roads inhibited access for some crews, prompting them to fly a helicopter to patrol some power lines on the North Shore.

B.C Hydro says anyone who sees a downed power line should call 911 and stay at least 10 metres away.

Environment Canada had issued now-lifted wind warnings for most of the south and central coast, including Metro Vancouver, where the weather office said gusts of wind had been expected to reach up to 100 km/h.