Windstorm causes more outages & road delays in Westshore

The aftermath of Tuesday night’s bomb cyclone—a fast-moving storm with winds clocked at 90km/h—delivered downed hydro lines and lane reductions on Highway 14. These have spotlighted, once again this year, the region’s vulnerability to extreme weather events and other emergencies.

The outages and traffic delay raises concerns, as the Westshore continues to experience rapid population growth and development, about the ability of the main connector to handle the traffic demand of commuters or future emergency situations like an earthquake or tsunami. 

Powerless in the face of the storm

This Tuesday the BC Hydro outage map showed 54,676 customers without power around Metchosin, Colwood, and Langford when the bomb cyclone rolled in. By 3am yesterday, that number had improved to 39,272 but as of 8am, many of those communities remained without service. 

The entirety of T’sou-ke First Nation reserve was without power at that time. BC Hydro reported all available crews and contractor crews would continue to work throughout the day Wednesday to repair extensive damage caused by the storm to its system, including broken power poles and downed power lines.

Back on Jan. 8, a heavy windstorm caused power outages that extended through Sooke along Hwy. 14 to Port Renfrew. On Oct. 20, a large stretch of Hwy.14 between Port Renfrew and Jordan River was closed following a torrential downpour that saw 200mm of rain fall, causing a washout along a 35 km stretch of road.

There is no easy fix to these problems

Burying power lines to protect them from wind and damage by felled trees requires that those lines be engineered differently than above-ground wires to protect them from flooding and earthquakes. This is an important engineering consideration for the Westshore, where there is a significant number of river systems, frequent and heavy precipitation, including atmospheric rivers, and an active seismic zone.

Additional engineering and specialized construction also comes at a premium cost compared with the price of overhead lines. Repairs to underground lines also take longer and are seen as complex, which could create additional delays after a disaster.

Sooke roads blocked or slow

Apart from the outages, Wednesday was also a single-lane traffic day for Sooke commuters. According to the Sooke Traffic Conditions Facebook page, it took as long as two hours to get to Victoria after the bomb cyclone hit the region. A tree on the road that took down power lines also took Hwy. 14 down to alternating traffic for 10km between Charters and Kangaroo roads. Delays continued until well into the afternoon.

Road delays inevitably translate to delays in everyday life and local institutions. SD62 announced that Hans Helgesen, John Muir, and Saseenos schools would start late yesterday, with some students from the latter two able to go to Sooke Elementary for childcare. Multiple school bus routes were also canceled.

The highway is already the frequent scene of motor vehicle crashes and collisions with pedestrians, particularly in its windier sections between Sooke and Langford. In that section of the highway, there are no turn lanes for traffic to safely bypass vehicles safely.

There are no centre dividers to protect motorists from head-on collisions beyond one small section that was added in 2023. Between West Shore Parkway in Langford and Otter Point Road in Sooke there is no detour option for that 18km stretch.

For Sooke, this problem won't go away any time soon   

Sooke is home to roughly 14K people. That is expected to grow by 7K residents by 2036. A growing frequency of extreme weather events related to climate change and increasing density mean these problems aren’t going away.

The District’s Transportation Master Plan (TMP) hints at the possibility of a future bypass between Otter Point Road and Phillips Road via Pascoe Road, to avoid sending Hwy. 14-bound traffic through Sooke's town centre, but it’s a goal that appears will only come to fruition years down the road.

According to the plan, “the single, most defining feature of the transportation experience in Sooke is a lack of connectivity within its street network” which results in congestion on its major roads and Hwy. 14. There is a limited number of potential alternate routing options for critical emergency response access during an event like yesterday’s.

Through a transportation survey the District undertook in 2019 as part of its public consultation gambit, one responder said, “Sooke needs to open up more connections to different hubs in the city so the highway is not the only way to access the city. We need more secondary routes like Grant Rd, Wadams Way, etc. to take the pressure off Hwy. 14.”

What will Sooke do?

The  District is looking at an extended Throup Road to connect Charters Road and Phillips Road to provide a connection between Phillips Road and the Town Centre as an alternative to Hwy. 14. This is the first section of the Grant Road Connector project that was included in a 2013 MOU between the District and the Ministry of Transportation and infrastructure.

In an emailed statement, the District told The Westshore that it is “currently updating its emergency management program, with a focus on a multi-year staged approach” that balances tackling current emergencies with preparing for future ones. Improvements it cited include roadside drainage, tree management, and road projects such as work on Charters and the Church-Throup roundabout.

In addition to its own TMP, Sooke pointed to the province looking at long-term plans for the region and argued that targeted investments from BC were key to both Sooke and to overall regional economic & safety issues. The District and province have had tension at points this year mainly over who is responsible for funding traffic improvements

Sooke has also sent its Emergency Program Manager to the Building Resilient Communities Conference, which wraps up today in Penticton, to learn more about best practices and new strategies.

Whatever long-term, transformative solutions to these headaches that may someday come to Sooke, they won't be arriving more quickly than this winter's next storm. For now, residents will have to brace for whatever the weather delivers.