A third in a series of powerful October storms ended up packing less punch than had been predicted, at least in the Lower Mainland.
The remnants of Typhoon Songda ended up tracking further north, bringing the fiercest winds to areas like Howe Sound and the Sunshine Coast on Saturday night.
Authorities took no chances, with BC Ferries cancelling sailings Saturday afternoon and BC Hydro crews scrambled to restore electricity where trees fell across power lines.
By noon Sunday, barely 1,000 Lower Mainland/Sunshine Coast homes were still without power, plus just over 800 on Vancouver Island, down from at least 33,000 southwestern B.C. customers without service at one point Saturday evening.
The winds were less powerful than predicted in the more populated parts of the region – maximum gusts of 59 and 63 km/h were measured at Abbotsford Airport and YVR, respectively – but they topped 100 km/h at some more exposed weather stations, such as Race Rocks off Victoria and Pam Rocks in Howe Sound.
One driver suffered a serious head injury in a Highway 1 rollover crash in Langley during the storm Saturday night.
And a 15-year-old Surrey boy died Friday after a tree fell on him near a school during the previous storm.
(Photo courtesy Curtis Kreklau)