Officials have issued rainfall and snowfall warnings for parts of British Columbia on Wednesday as a fall storm moves across the province.
Environment Canada says up to 90 millimetres of rainfall is expected to fall on parts of Metro Vancouver and Howe Sound, and up to 60 millimetres on Haida Gwaii.
The downpours could lead to flash floods and pooling on roads, as well as washouts near waterways, Environment Canada warns.
The weather comes after a fall storm brought wind and rainfall in several regions of southwestern B.C. Tuesday night. According to B.C. Hydro’s website, as of 8 a.m. PT Wednesday, dozens of people are without power after the storm caused localized outages across the Lower Mainland.
Ken Dosanjh, an Environment Canada meteorologist, said the storm will taper off through Wednesday.
“In terms of rainfall, we are past the brunt of it,” he said. “The main front has moved through, and now we’re watching this low pressure centre that’s idly sitting along the Central Coast just gradually bring some more precipitation to the Lower Mainland.”
The same Pacific frontal system is also bringing snow to northern regions of the province.
Up to 15 centimetres of snow is expected Wednesday evening in the North Peace River region, Environment Canada said in a separate warning, before easing off over night.
Further south, 30-50 centimetres is expected on the Paulson Summit to Kootenay Pass stretch of Highway 3 through to Thursday night.
Environment Canada also issued a special weather statement for almost the entire west coast of Vancouver Island, warning that waves up to four metres high along with pounding surf could cause water levels to reach up to 60 centimetres above normal high tide.
The agency said the water could push water and debris into low-lying areas.
“Beachgoers can be swept into the ocean near rocky outcrops,” it warned in the statement. “Powerful waves can roll logs and heavy debris along the beach.”
Dosanjh said the storm is just the latest to hit B.C. this fall, adding that Metro Vancouver had about 170 per cent of its normal amount of rainfall in October.
“Over the past couple months, the B.C. coastline has been hit with a barrage of systems, almost system after system, most of them kind of occurring over the weekend, oddly enough,” he said.
“One would imagine we would at least meet our normal November scale or possibly exceed it.”
He said Environment Canada expects more rainfall for the Lower Mainland this weekend.