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B.C. Ferries has cancelled many sailings for Christmas Day after Environment Canada issued dozens of wind and heavy rain warnings for the South Coast.
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The ferry firm says the “severe” forecast means all sailings between Tsawwassen and Duke Point in Nanaimo on Wednesday have been axed, while trips between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. have also been scrapped.
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Sailings are also cancelled between Horseshoe Bay and Departure Bay in Nanaimo between 10:40 a.m. and 6:35 p.m.
B.C. Ferries says the cancellations have been made to ensure the safety of customers and crew and other sailings on Wednesday are also at risk.
Environment Canada issued 24 wind and heavy rain warnings for the South Coast for Christmas Day as the region braces for the second in a series of festive-week storms.
The agency says up to 100 millimetres of rain could drench Metro Vancouver and other areas, while winds up to 100 km/h could hit Victoria and Vancouver Island, and stretching inland to parts of the southern Interior.
The wild weather is expected to start around midday Wednesday, lasting through to Boxing Day, with heavy rain potentially bringing localized flooding, travel disruptions and power cuts.
The warnings come after the first of three storms moved inland on Tuesday, after bringing powerful winds that downed trees, cut power and blocked roads in some coastal areas.
It arrived late Monday, with hurricane-force gusts up to 165 km/h recorded on the west coast of the island overnight, before the weather system moved out of the region later Tuesday morning.
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The strongest winds were recorded before dawn Tuesday at remote Sartine Island, but gusts above 100 km/h were also recorded at several other locations off Vancouver Island’s west coast.
B.C. Hydro said fallen trees caused outages on Vancouver Island, while DriveBC said the Sunshine Coast Highway was temporarily blocked by fallen power lines about 40 km west of Sechelt. Check the outage updates at B.C. Hydro’s site.
Elsewhere on the Sunshine Coast, fallen trees and downed Hydro lines partly cut Hanbury Road near Roberts Creek.
The third weather system is a low-pressure system that Environment Canada says will approach southern Vancouver Island early Thursday, although there was uncertainty about its path.
The agency says an anticipated southern track would confine the strongest winds and heavy rain to the South Coast.
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