Thousands of residents in B.C. are still without power this morning, after a winter storm swept through the province Monday, leaving up to 40 centimetres of snow in some areas, causing highway and school closures.
As of 6 a.m. Tuesday, more than 2,000 customers in the Lower Mainland had power outages, mostly in the Fraser Valley and Hope, where a heavy snowfall overnight is making for treacherous driving conditions.
Environment Canada says by 11 p.m. Monday, 38 centimetres of snow had fallen at Whistler and Squamish, Kelowna had 33 centimetres and Nakusp saw the most in the province with 40 centimetres. In the Fraser Valley, Chilliwack had nine centimetres and Abbotsford had four.
Nearly three dozen warnings were in effect Monday afternoon about winter storms, rainfall, snowfall and extreme cold across the province.
Avalanche Canada forecaster Tom Riley said the slide danger is rated as high in the southern Interior, though people were continuing to take risks on the mountains.
鈥淲e have reports of people going for rides on avalanches and getting partly buried,鈥� he said Monday.
The danger rating applies to the Cariboo Mountains, the north Monashees and the Selkirks, all the way down to the Kootenay-Boundary region and into the Purcells, Riley said.
Heavy snowfall closed schools in the central Okanagan, North Okanagan-Shuswap, Fraser-Cascade and Kamloops districts, as well as private schools and Thompson Rivers University.
Monday was supposed to be the first day back to class after the winter break.
Karl deBruijn, superintendent of the Kamloops school district, said it was the first such closure is his 37 years on the job.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 ever been done before in Kamloops, and we鈥檙e pretty concerned about it.鈥�
Jen Fretz, public works director for the City of Kamloops, said crews focused on plowing main transportation routes but might not be able to get to side streets within the mandated 36 hours.
鈥淭he snow hasn鈥檛 even stopped yet,鈥� Fretz said Monday.
Environment Canada forecast snow to end in the city by midnight and freezing rain overnight.
The federal weather agency also predicted between 30 and 50 centimetres of snow would fall on the Okanagan Valley, with the heaviest accumulations on the Coquihalla Highway.
But by the mid-afternoon, the Ministry of Transportation announced on its DriveBC website that travel advisories had been lifted and it had reopened several roads and highways.
Only one exit on the Coquihalla Highway near Hope, remained closed as crews dealt with a tree that had fallen across the road.
Winter storms in parts of B.C. and Central Canada have led to a few minor flight delays at 91原创 International Airport. Travellers are being advised to check on the status of their flights before heading out to YVR.
Flights were also cancelled or delayed in cities including Kelowna and Kamloops.
In Metro 91原创, a rainfall warning was issued Monday morning. Environment Canada forecast that 15 to 30 mm of rain could fall by the end of the day, when the downpour is expected to taper off. That follows the 30 to 50 mm of rain that fell overnight.
Across 91原创 Island today, rain is forecast, with temperatures expected to hover between 5 and 10 degrees.
In Victoria, Environment Canada forecasts a high of 8 degrees today, with rain ending this evening. Tuesday is expected to remain cloudy with a 30 per cent chance of showers in the morning and a high of 10 degrees.
Mount Washington鈥檚 website reports a 120-centimetre snow base with no overnight snowfall. Rain is forecast and the temperature as of 7:30 a.m. was about 0.
B.C. Hydro spokeswoman Mora Scott said the storm cut power to 14,000 customers Sunday night and through Monday.
鈥淭he Fraser Valley was the hardest-hit area,鈥� she said, adding crews had to access one problem area by helicopter because that was the only way into the area.
Power was expected to be restored to the last 7,500 customers without electricity by the late afternoon, she said.
