Cowichan Bay Village .com

December 20th is a day that will likely be well remembered here in Cowichan Bay. A powerful windstorm lashed the entire south coast of British Columbia, winds gusting at times to 100km/h caused major damage in communities all along the coast.

Then it moved inland.

At Whiterock, the community pier was destroyed. In Maple Bay, several boat houses were torn apart by the winds, moored vessels were scattered and at least two float homes were set adrift as docks broke up under the tremendous onslaught. One home had four people aboard. Fortunately quick thinking by several boat owners saw those homes, and the people inside them returned to safety. Not so fortunate was the woman in Duncan, who died as the result of a falling tree, nor was her companion who had to be rushed to hospital as a result of the incident.

Thousands of trees were toppled, the rain came in sheets, mooring lines were strained, items left on the docks wound up in the water. BC Ferries cut all sailings to the mainland, the winds and waves too intense for safe navigation. By the end of it all, over 550,000 BC Hydro customers were without electricity across the affected area, which also included the entire west coast of the Island.

Cowichan Bay was no exception. Our power went out about an hour into the storm, as trees fell by the hundreds, mangling power lines and blowing transformers all along Cowichan Bay road. The damage was seemingly everywhere.

The wind came to us from the North West, which while fortunate for the waterbourne community, caused trees to fall across Cowichan Bay road and so directly across the electrical lines. We heard a series of loud arcing noises, two loud bangs and the lights went out.

We would not see them on again for almost three full days.

As the winds subsided, some of us cautiously poked our noses out and began to tally the damage. Our community Christmas tree, officially lit only days before had been savaged. It lay on it’s side propped against the Maritime Center’s auxiliary office building. Cowichan Bay road was blocked in both directions by tangles of trees and electrical wire, although access to the outside world was still possible through the use of a circuitous route involving several side streets.

As compared to Maple Bay however, there was fortunately little damage.

But with the electrical failure, more damage was yet to come. The Pier 66 store had frozen foods that started to thaw immediately. So too did all the restaurants. Our little community has become rather well known as a destination day-trip/dining spot and all those coolers and freezers were now inoperative.

Lauren, owner of the Pier-66 store knew what was coming and acted quickly. She did an inventory of the refrigerated goods on hand, and began distributing them to the village folk while they were still edible. She could have thrown it all away, but instead made sure the product would not be wasted. This helped immensely, for quite a few residents, those who live on boats particularly, have only small refrigerators and tend under normal circumstances to shop for food several times a week.

Others in the community began digging generators out of storage and stockpiled enough fuel to see them through the next 24 hours at least. Several float homes are heated by pellet stove, and these require a steady, if small supply of electricity to operate. Batteries were removed from vehicles, power inverters were found and those who relied on pellets for heat were set up with a trickle of emergency power, or plugged directly into neighbour’s generators to maintain home heating.

The Community Facebook page “Cowichan Bay and Friends” lit up almost immediately and those who needed assistance were helped by neighbours or found the news they needed to plan. Photos from all over the area appeared, showing damage and ongoing recovery efforts. One post, particularly telling of the attitude in the Bay, asked “Out of respect: What time should I shut my generator off?” The general consensus was that gen-sets should be run as needed regardless of the hour.

There was humour too, a general “keep a stiff upper lip” attitude prevailed. We were all living the 1800’s lifestyle now and we were all in the soup together. The glory of hot showers and the merits of steaming baths were discussed at length. Safety tips such as “Don’t run your generator in an enclosed space” bounced back and forth.

By the morning of the 21st then, it became clear that this was not to be an ordinary electrical outage. We experience those from time to time and in general terms, the power is off for an hour or two, then comes back on. This was to be something quite different. Some areas near to Cowichan Bay had electricity back on almost immediately. Mill Bay at the highway was brightly lit and so my wife Michelle and I decided to have breakfast at the A&W there. Cash only however, as the debit card system was not up and running.

Meanwhile BC Hydro had been on the job. Restoring electrical power to over half a million customers province-wide is not a simple matter. The call had gone out, and line repair crews along with their vehicles began pouring onto the Island from all over British Columbia. The crew that just now restored power to Cowichan Bay Village, and which continues to work to restore it further, came all the way from Kamloops. They are on the job til the job is done, but wondered aloud if they would be home for Christmas day. Some had doubts.

All through the 21st and into the 22nd Cowichan Bay huddled around wood stoves, ate cheese and crackers, made coffee on gas ranges and on camp stoves. The weather grew quite cold for a while, a heavy frost coated everything on the morning of the 21st, but then thankfully it warmed up a little to just above freezing.

Chef Daniel of the Vine Restaurant, a fine dining establishment here in the Village, surveyed his refrigerated storage with dismay on the morning of the 22nd. Everything not in dry storage had to go, he determined. Much of what was there had already reached the point of no return. Soups, sauces, prepped vegetables, meats, cheeses, virtually everything had to be either used at once, or be lost.

So he and his Sous Chef Steven began cleaning. They heated pots of water on the gas stoves and began dumping the prepared goods, washing the containers and ensuring that they had a clean and sanitary kitchen ready for use once power was restored. The process, done in half darkness and helped by candle light, took hours.

Out of sheer frustration at the loss and waste, Daniel decided to fire up his ovens. He had two beautiful prime rib roasts more or less prepared, which should have been served that day. Refusing to throw these out, he stuffed them into the oven, and prepared potatoes, a red wine and drippings gravy and a large quantity of Greek style salad.

The call went out. Those who presented themselves at the restaurant at 2:30pm that day, would be able to enjoy, free of charge a delicious hot roast beef dinner. Over 30 people attended at the hour, some had not eaten a hot meal since the storm began. Everyone brought their own plates, so as to save further washing up at the restaurant. Some took the meals home so that not they, but elderly neighbours and children could benefit.

It is just after 0800 on the morning of the 23rd as I set this down. Electricity has been restored in Cowichan Bay Village. It came on again just around 3am, however not everyone has been so fortunate thus far. There are still areas which are in blackout. The crews from the interior of the province are still on the job, replacing wires, poles and transformers. We do wish that they’ll all be able to go home for their holidays. I can only hope that they realise what a beautiful Christmas gift they have given, and continue to work to give all of us here in the meantime.

Edit: As of 9:30 on the 23rd, the local Bay Pub is offering anyone working on the lines a free hot lunch or dinner. They open at 11am today, so spread the word won’t you?