Yet another wind storm batters B.C. south coast
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 9, 2007 | 7:42 PM PT
CBC News
Strong gusts toppled trees and power lines along British Columbia's south coast on Tuesday, as the latest in a string of windstorms lashed the region.
By Tuesday night, the storm had cut off power to thousands of people from southern Vancouver Island into the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver.
It also closed the Lions Gate bridge and Stanley Park causeway linking Vancouver to the North Shore suburbs just as the afternoon commuter rush began.
Environment Canada issued a wind warning for the Vancouver area, predicting winds reaching speeds of 90 kilometres per hour. Forecasters expected the winds would diminish to about 50 kilometres an hour by late evening.
Vancouver's popular Stanley Park, which lost more than 3,000 trees to another storm in mid-December, had more trees go down in the afternoon as gusts reached almost 100 kilometres per hour.
Officials ordered the park to close but not before a busload of tourists found their way blocked by a fallen tree. Another bus was brought in to take the tourists out of the park.
A woman walking in the park was injured when a tree fell on her, trapping her underneath, Global TV reported. A passerby flagged down park workers to rescue her and she was taken to hospital with minor head and leg injuries.
Park board crews are still assessing the damage from the ferocious windstorm weeks earlier that not only knocked down thousands of trees, but caused landslides in the park.
The cleanup and replanting bill is expected to run into millions of dollars.
Meanwhile, crews had to suspend work on the victim of another windstorm, Vancouver's B.C. Place stadium. A section of the stadium's inflatable roof was torn open by another windstorm on Jan. 5, forcing a controlled deflation.
With files from the Canadian PressShare Tools
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