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Wind takes out hydro to 3,000 homes

120 km/h gusts keep fire crews busy

MONDAY'S windstorm may have seemed ferocious, but damages were limited to just a few incidents.

Between 5 a.m. and 2 p.m., wind gusts of more than 80 kilometres per hour whipped across the Strait of Georgia, disrupting ferry traffic, and bringing down trees and power lines.

"It was surprisingly not bad," said District of North Vancouver assistant fire chief Jim Bonneville. "It was nothing, considering all the wind."

Fire departments across the North Shore were kept busy for much of the day removing downed trees and branches from roads and power lines, and in one case, the roof of a home in the 500-block of West Windsor Road.

"There were no injuries. There were power outages and inconveniences for people," Bonneville said.

West Vancouver, typically hit hardest by windstorms, also weathered the storm well.

"In West Vancouver, we surprisingly had very few events," said West Vancouver chief Martin Ernst. ""It was really only a half-day event and then everything died down."

The most serious incident was downed live power lines in front of a private school in the 500-block of Keith Road.

Ernst said residents should stay at least 30 metres away from downed power lines, whether they look live or not.

More than 3,000 properties on the North Shore were left without power during the day, according to BC Hydro.

In the largest outage, 2,369 customers between Lonsdale Avenue and Baird Road, north of 21st Street lost power around 11: 35 a.m.

Another 782 customers lost power between Xwemelch'stn (Capilano 5 Reserve) and Park Royal Shopping Centre due to a downed wire. While the power at the mall itself stayed on, some of the surrounding restaurants went dark.

Power was not restored to both major outages until just before 10 p.m.

At the peak of the storm around noon, 132,000 customers on the South Coast were without power.

Because of heavy winds and high waves on the Strait of Georgia, B.C. Ferries cancelled all sailings between Horseshoe Bay and Departure Bay until 3 p.m. and sailings from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale and Snug Cove fell behind schedule.

Would-be skiers and snowboarders hoping to take advantage for fresh powder on the North Shore found themselves with fewer options because of the storm.

Staff at Grouse Mountain sent some employees up in the morning but quickly shut the Skyride tram down once winds reached 80 km/h, according to Grouse spokeswoman Sarah Lusk. Staff reopened the Skyride to guests after winds died down around 2 p.m.

Mount Seymour, where gusts hit 120 km/h, had only two of its regular lifts running during the morning and Cypress Mountain was reduced to just one lift for most of the day.

SETTING IT STRAIGHT

A story published March 2, Trial Opens of Man Accused of Lighthouse Park Murder, incorrectly stated Tammy-Lynn Cordone's blood alcohol level at the time of her death. Cordone's actual blood alcohol level was .477.

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