CHEMAINUS — Like miners descending into the depths, Steph Fulcher and Kohen and Jason Glutek strapped on headlamps and walked out of their darkened Willow Street home into the cold, dark town.
Thursday’s storm has left Chemainus in complete darkness after numerous trees were blown down onto numerous power lines. The only light in this small coastal town Friday night came from the full moon and car headlights.
“The storm has been really crazy. There’s been trees falling,” said eight-year-old Kohen, as he experimented with the different lights on his headlamp.
His father Jason Glutek went out for a walk Thursday evening about 6 p.m. when the storm was at its height. The power had gone out around 2 p.m.
“It was pretty windy. Lots of sirens. It was pitch black out. That’s when I noticed the carnage of all the trees everywhere. I’ve lived here pretty much my whole life and I haven’t seen anything this bad yet,” said Glutek, 37.
Fulcher, an electrician for B.C. Hydro, had arrived home for Christmas one day late because of the storm. “I had to catch the ferry at 5:15 this morning because I was trying to come home from work last night and every ferry was cancelled,” said Fulcher, who commutes from Pemberton.
The headlamps came in handy earlier when the three worked on a puzzle, said Glutek.
“It’s so nice, instead of pointing a flashlight,” said Fulcher.
But the experience was starting to wear thin as they faced a second night, and possibly a third night, with cold sandwiches and no heat and power, said Glutek.
“We can always go into Duncan to get a coffee,” Fulcher said hopefully.
Inge Van Baar made her way down the street, dressed in her winter woolies and carrying a flashlight.
“The storm was horrible. It was terrible. I almost blew away,” said Van Baar. “It’s cold, but it’s cold in the house. We have no heater so it’s better to walk around and get a little bit warm. It’s nice. Nice and dark. Nobody’s outside. It’s like a ghost town. There’s no lights. It’s very quiet.”
Roads where trees had fallen and power lines had drooped were closed, blocked with orange cones and danger tape.
Troy Loucks with JSK Traffic Control stopped cars from driving down Henry Road, where three trees were down. One tree, resting on power lines, blocked the road.
On Alder Street, two light standards and a power pole were mangled in a fallen tree.
Power lines dangled off a 30-metre tree which had crashed into Canada Post mailboxes near the 49th Parallel Grocery.
Nearby, Maple Lane was filled with tree branches.
Chemainus public work crews were in clean up mode at Waterwheel Park, the main downtown park. “It was quite traumatic in there,” said Ernie Mansueti, North Cowichan general manager of community services.
“I think people have been very respectful and understanding,” he said. “They witnessed the storm and they know it’s going to take time to get things back to normal. Right now, one of our biggest issues is just the hydro is out in so many spots. The duration of the time out has been quite long, but the effort B.C. Hydro has been putting out has been excellent. They’ve really done everything they can to get people back online and we really appreciate it. They’re been very communicative with us and we’re trying to relay that to our citizens.”
To the south, at the Maple Bay Marina, the aftermath of the storm is a disaster, said Steve Lamont. Owners of two houseboats that came loose were having them retrieved.
“We have lots of damage,” he said. “A lot of docks are all broken up and everything else.”
In Duncan, the power came back on in some parts of town around 5:30 a.m. Friday after going out about 11 a.m. the previous day.
On Thursday evening, few places in the city had power, leading to crowded parking lots and long lineups at the restaurants and shops — including a liquor store — that did.
Many shopping centres and plazas remained dark, empty of shoppers on one of the busiest shopping days of the season.
