EXTREME WEATHER: Powerful Windstorm Hits British Columbia - Knocks Out Power, Cancels Ferries And Closes Schools!

A BC Hydro crew repairs a downed power line on Thursday morning in Metro Vancouver. (GP Mendoza/CBC)

March 10, 2016 - BRITISH COLUMBIA - Powerful winds downed trees and power lines, closed schools and forced BC Ferries to cancel several sailings along the South Coast of B.C. on Thursday morning.

At 10 a.m. PT BC Hydro was reporting about 110,000 customers on the Lower Mainland, including Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and the Sunshine Coast were without power.

More than 10,000 customers were also without power on Vancouver Island during the height of the storm.

BC Hydro was reporting about 110,000 customers were without power on Thursday morning. (BC Hydro/Google Maps)

The power outages also knocked out power to several traffic lights, creating delays for morning commuters. Check with @CBCTraffic on Twitter for updates.

The winds began Wednesday night and appeared to have subsided by Thursday morning. But then a new wind warning issued at 6 a.m. PT said strong southerly winds with gusts up to 90 km/h were occurring over much of Metro Vancouver and the Western Fraser Valley this morning.

Exposed coastal sections of East Vancouver Island, the Southern Gulf Islands and the Sunshine Coast were also seeing southeast winds of 60 to 80 km/h as a deep low pressure centre moved north of Vancouver Island, according to Environment Canada.

Still seeing a lot of power outages and debris/trees blocking traffic. Please be very careful this morning! #CBC

— CBC Vancouver (@CBCTraffic) March 10, 2016

Be safe out there this morning, still several warnings in place for the passing #BCstorm https://t.co/9EJTt2zawK pic.twitter.com/iuA0lenwI7

— EC_BCweather (@EC_BCweather) March 10, 2016

Winds are expected to ease to southwest 40 gusting to 60 km/h later this morning.

DriveBC was reporting Highway 101 on the Sunshine Coast was closed by a fallen tree near Mercer Road at 8 a.m. A tree was also reported to be down on Highway 1 near 208 Street in Surrey.

#BCHwy1 EB Tree down after 208th St in Right Lane. @MainroadLM is on route. Drive Safely. pic.twitter.com/bMsvWz53UR

— Lower Mainland Dist. (@TranBC_LMD) March 10, 2016

BC Ferries was also reporting that the wind was delaying the departure of some sailings on the Duke Point-Tsawwassen route on Thursday morning.

#BCFHeadsUp#QuadraIsland - #CortesIsland vessel cancelled first round trip due to weather
7:50 xCortes CANCELLED
9:05 xQuadra CANCELLED ^dg

— BC Ferries (@BCFerries) March 10, 2016

Sailings on several shorter routes, including the Powell River-Comox and Campbell River-Quadra Island routes, were also cancelled because of the wind, early Thursday morning.

Harbour Air was reporting that some float plane traffic was affected by the winds.

Select routes are being affected by wind this morning. Pls check https://t.co/xANpvtlKpM for your up to date flight status

— Harbour Air Seaplane (@HarbourAirLtd) March 10, 2016

School closures
The power outages have also cancelled classes at some schools, including some in Coquitlam, Surrey, Mission and Abbotsford and one in West Vancouver.

Parents are advised to check their district websites for more details.

In Surrey the closed schools included:

• Elgin Park Secondary
• Clayton Heights Secondary
• Fraser Heights Secondary
• Hazelgrove Elementary
• Bothwell Elementary
• Pacific Heights Elementary
• Chantrell Creek Elementary
• Prince Charles Elementary
• Royal Heights Elementary
• East Kensington Elementary
• Coast Meridian Elementary

There are some other Surrey schools without power, but remain open, said a statement from the district.
In Abbotsford the following schools are closed for the day:

• Ten Broeck Elementary
• Clearbrook Elementary
• Dr. R.Bondar Elementary
• South Poplar Elementary.
• King Elementary is also now closed; parents asked to come and pick up children if possible.

In Mission the following schools were closed:

• Hillside Elementary School
• Hatzic Elementary School
• Hatzic Middle School
• Riverside Technical College

The Coquitlam School District website said, "Power is currently out at some schools in the Mary Hill and North Port Coquitlam/Victoria Drive region.  We currently do not have an estimated time for the return of power.  All parents should ensure the care and safety of their children in getting them to school.

"All SD43 schools are open today and starting classes at regularly scheduled times until further specific school closure updates are made. As always, it is at the discretion of parents as to whether they send their children to school."

All #SD43 schools are open today and starting classes at regularly scheduled times until further specific school closure updates are made.

— School District 43 (@sd43bc) March 10, 2016

Collingwood School in West Vancouver was reporting that its Wentworth Campus would be closed until the power is restored. The Morven campus was operating normally.

High watersThe municipality of Delta reported localized flooding in the Boundary Bay Spruce Grove waterfront areas, where the tide was expected to peak around 6:16 a.m. PT.

#DeltaBC crews are assisting residents w/ sandbags & pumps in flooded areas. Water going over wall in #Tsawwassen: pic.twitter.com/aJlYTj3MHw

— Corporation of Delta (@CorpDelta) March 10, 2016

The B.C. River Forecast Centre issued a High Streamflow Advisory for Central Vancouver Island including the Somass River and smaller tributaries in the region. - CBC.

EXTREME WEATHER: Major Coastal Storm Hits British Columbia, Canada - Dumps Significant Rainfall; Leaves Thousands Without Power; Triggers Avalanche Warnings!

Snow fallling on the Coquihalla highway at the summit at 10 a.m. PT Sunday. (DriveBC)

January 19, 2015 - BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA - Avalanche warnings are in effect throughout the B.C. Interior today as the coastal storm that brought significant rainfall overnight moves inland and turns to snow.

The storm was accompanied by strong winds that left at one point left 25,000 B.C. Hydro customers without power. Vancouver Island was the hardest hit.

There were also power outages in parts of the Lower Mainland and the Sunshine Coast.

Power to many areas was restored by noon, although areas of Central and North Saanich were without power until 6 p.m. PT according to B.C. Hydro.

A wind storm knocked out power to 25,000 customers on Vancouver island Sunday morning. (B.C. Hydro)

Environment Canada says the storm will generate another 25 mm of rain in the Fraser Valley Sunday bringing the total rainfall in the valley from the storm to about 50 mm. It says localized flooding in some areas is possible.

Heavy snow is forecast for highway passes in B.C. with the Coquihalla Highway expected to receive up to 30 cm of snow by Monday morning.

The Pacific frontal system moving across the B.C. Interior will also bring 10 to 15 cm of snow to Roger's Pass and a further 10 to 15 cm to Alison and Kootenay Passes along Highway 3 today.

The Kootenay Pass shown here on a DriveBC camera was closed for three hours Sunday morning for avalanche control. (DriveBC)

An Avalanche Canada map of the province shows avalanche danger ratings ranging from "considerable" to "high" throughout B.C.

The Trans-Canada Highway west of Revelstoke is closed until noon for avalanche control and the Kootenay Pass was closed for three hours for the same reason Sunday morning. - CBC News.

MYSTERY: Symbols of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - The Latest UFO Sightings And Aerial Anomalies Around The World!? MUFON: UFO Sightings in USA Have Doubled During The Summer!?

UFO sightings in the United States have more than doubled this summer, according to a new research. The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) - an organisation that tracks reports of unidentified flying objects, said some states doubled their numbers in the last six weeks. According to MUFON, 1,013 sightings were reported in August, up from an average of about 500 per month nationwide. MUFON international director Clifford Clift told Life's Little Mysteries: "It's pretty exciting."

Mr Clift said the 'UFO flap', which occurs when a cluster of sightings happen in a short period of time, could be due to a psychological phenomenon called 'priming', in which people believe they see what they are told to look for, whether it exists or not. A shift in focus in popular culture could have led to an increase in sightings, he said - with more books, movies and television shows focusing on the mystery of the UFO and alien invasion. 'It's likely that the media and (alien-themed) movies that are coming out, like Apollo 18 and Paul, are piquing people's interest in UFOs,' Mr Clift told Little Mysteries. People are also more likely to go outdoors in the summer months, increasing the chance for sightings. Numbers could also be inflated due to duplication in sightings. Mr Clift also said MUFON has received reports of objects reported as UFOs, which the organisation has determined to be other objects, such as airplanes, shooting stars, satellites and weather balloons. The organisation, he said, is still investigating data on UFO sighting reports from recent weeks. - Daily Mail.

According to MUFON, 1,013 sightings were reported in August. Reports from their website UFOStalker.com detail a series of alleged sightings in the last week alone:

September 18, 2011: Hoboken, New Jersey - 'White stationary object...started to move and then reversed direction'
September 17, 2011: Gilbert Mesa area, Arizona - 'Amber/orange glowing object'
September 16, 2011: Westfield, Massachusetts - 'First two glowing orbs travelling at similar speeds'
September 16, 2011: Charlotte, North Carolina - 'Orange lights that appeared to fly like controlled ballons'
September 13, 2011: Bullhead City, Arizona - 'Five crafts flying down the Colorado river in formation then they stopped and hovered for several mins and then continued down the river'

Over the last couple of weeks, I have documented several of these sightings, including the flying object captured on television cameras during a Notre Dame football earlier this month and the weird light phenomenon seen across several states last week. Here are few more, plus sightings from around the world:

Possible unidentified submerged object (USO) was recorded on the West coast in Sweden. This video was recorded several days ago.

WATCH: Possible USO sighting on Sweden's coast.

New footage of unknown lights and objects hovering in the night sky above Tucson in Arizona. This was filmed on Monday, 19th September 2011.

In this one there is a bit more action then just a floating light you can see the blinking one which i think is Human made and the stable floating ones are the UFOs on the right corner you can actually see when one just disappears! - Brookefb Youtube Channel.

WATCH: UFO activity over Tucson, Arizona.

Two linked bright objects were recorded flying across the sky above Fraser Valley in Grand County, Colorado on 19th September 2011.

 I first submitted a report about a sighting I had around 5:15 AM in the sky high above James Peak (Continental Divide) on August 29th, 2011. In the 21 days since, I have witnessed similar sightings, in the same general vicinity, for most of the clear mornings (cannot be seen when cloudy). There is a flashing, very bright object(brightest object in sky besides moon)in the sky high above the Continental Divide. The object at times appears still, but then clearly moves, making short jutting motions in erratic directions. For the first several nights (mornings, actually - I viewed it at varying times between 3:00 AM and 6:30 AM when the sun is up) I tried to capture this object on any and all of our cameras, but had no luck. All the cameras could capture was blackness. Finally, on September 4th, I was able to capture still photos and video of the object on my Blackberry phone (pictures/video attached). At times when millions of stars are visible to the naked eye, this is the only object that the camera on my phone would pick up, that evening and in several evenings since. Perhaps this isn't so odd, considering this object appears to be the brightest object in the sky, although many of the stars are nearly as bright, just not quite as large to the naked eye... - MUFON.

WATCH: UFO over Fraser Valley, Grand County, Colorado.

UFOs captured by an eye-witness on a Airbus A320 plane coming from France. This video capture was filmed on August 21 of this year.

A great UFO sighting come from the France. There are some UFOs taken from an airplane. The witness was on the Airbus A320 Airfrance, and he took three photos out the airplane to landscape. In a first time, he saw nothing. Only later, reviewing the photos, the witness noticed the UFO. According to Angelo Carannante, the manager of CUBMGC (Centro Ufologico di Benevento Mars Group Campano) and CUFOM (Centro Ufologico Mediterraneo), the appearance of these UFOs are very common. Carannante claims: “Seems that UFO have change tactics. This is a very interesting sighting." - CUFOMCHANNEL.

More details are on the website CUFOM. 

WATCH: UFOs photographed from a plane over France.

GEOLOGICAL UPHEAVAL: Mudslide closes Trans-Canada Highway!

A massive mudslide has buried and closed a section of the Trans-Canada Highway in British Columbia. The  massive slide came roaring down a mountainside Wednesday morning, sweeping across both east and west-bound lanes of highway one. The slide buried at least one vehicle and stopped a freight train.

It could be midnight Thursday before crews can clear a massive mudslide that has blocked the Trans-Canada Highway in both directions in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver. At least one driver suffered minor injuries in the slide, which did not hit any homes. Tonnes of debris roared down over four lanes of the highway and a railway line at about 10:15 a.m. PT Wednesday between Chilliwack and Hope, near the Herrling Island Road exit. It left a mountain of mud measuring 3,000 square metres and several metres deep in places. Lynn Orstad of the Fraser Valley Regional District said a car was struck by the debris and rolled over twice, but the female driver escaped with only a bruised knee. Crews have checked whether any other vehicles were caught in the slide and have seen no sign of other victims so far, but admit the debris field is too deep to be certain. The debris also swamped a CN Rail line, stopping a freight train, but there was no derailment and no members of the train crew were hurt.

The RCMP said detours are in place to move traffic around the site. The woman who escaped from the car was shaking as she walked into a gas station, a cashier who works there said. "She was shaking, literally," Cindy Mackin said from the rural truck stop in Rosedale, B.C. "I actually talked to a lady who crawled out of it," Mackin said of the slide, more than 100 kilometres east of Vancouver. "She said she seen the trees coming down and she slammed on her brakes and then she seen it basically happen right in front of her." Transportation Ministry engineers and geological technicians aboard the RCMP's Air 1 helicopter are conducting a fly-over to assess slope stability and determine whether rescue operations can be resumed, police said. The RCMP has also established a command post in the area. Initially the mudslide covered the eastbound side of the highway before spreading to the westbound lanes, according to the RCMP. - MSN Canada.

WATCH: Massive mudslide between Chilliwack and Hope.