B.C. mops up after major windstorm

People living inthe Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island were picking up the pieces on Saturday following the year's first major windstorm.

The storm brought winds exceeding 100 km/hFriday afternoon, downing trees and power lines, and leaving a trail of smashed piers and sunken or damaged boats.

About 30,000 BC Hydro customersremained without power on Saturday afternoon. Hydro spokesman Dag Sharman said most of the outages were on Vancouver Island, but about 2,000 customers in Vancouver's West End and Richmond were also affected.

Sharman said hydrocrews have been working around the clock since Friday's massive storm whipped up trouble for about 115,000 customers.

"Last time we had winds this damaging was in 2006," he told the Vancouver Provinceearlier Saturday. "This is a very significant storm the strength of the winds and direction of the winds and it's caused a lot of damage to our equipment and has made restoring power to our equipment very difficult as well."

Extra crews and contractors have been called in on Vancouver Island to deal with more than 150 separate power outages, Sharman said.

Ferry service between Vancouver and Vancouver Island was returning to normal following dozens of cancelled trips on Friday.

However,BC Ferries was reporting one-sailing waits on the Departure Bay-Horseshoe Bay route in both directions. Travellers were urged to make a reservation and arrive at least 30 minutesbefore the scheduled departure.

Vancouver's Stanley Park, which was closed on Friday due to fallingtree branches, reopened Saturday, as did the Lion's Gate Bridge.

On Vancouver Island,the marina at Mill Bay on the Saanich Inlet north of Victoriawas virtually destroyed by the high winds.Three yachts sank at the marina, and many boats were tossedashore.

Travellers headingsouth to shop were warned they will once again find crossing the U.S. border an exercise in frustration. On Friday, waits of up to four hourswere reported as Canadiansqueuedto take advantage of the rising loonie and lower prices in the U.S.