Recovery efforts have begun in the Vancouver Island city of Port Alberni after Wednesday's storm caused widespread flooding, knocked out power and cut off the community from the rest of the world.

City crews were lifting the barricades on flooded roads on Thursday. Hydro crews were expected to get in to restore power to the battered community.

Port Alberni was hit with 130 millimetres of rain.
(CBC)

The city was flooded with 130 millimetres of rain and rocked by winds of more than 100 km/h, leaving 17,000 homes and businesses without electricity.

Highway 4 was closed to the east and west of the city by the flooding, which prevented hydro crews from getting in to make repairs.

"We had a lot of people who had cold nights," said Port Alberni Mayor Ken McRae. "I had a cold shower this morning and shaved with a flashlight. So there you are.

"Nobody could get in or out because of the roads, so we felt like we were on top of the North Pole or something."

Meanwhile, residents have been given a boil water advisory.

Water 'spurting a foot in the air'

The high tide came at 9 a.m., but the water kept rising for hours, covering streets in many areas with metre-deep water. 

The basements of about 200 homes were flooded, which forced some families out of their homes and into emergency shelters and hotels.

Tiffany Shields, who works the night desk in Alberni's Hospitality Inn, said there was so much water, the drainage system backfired.

"When the water first came out of the manholes, it was like spurting a foot in the air."

Some long-time residents say the storm was worse than the big tsunami of 1964.

The tsunami, triggered by an earthquake in Alaska, created a wave that surged down the Alberni Inlet, damaging hundreds of buildings.