A person was rescued on White Rock Pier after powerful winds cut the popular structure in half on Thursday afternoon.
Crews were sent to the area after the man become stranded on the side of the pier that was no longer attached to land. White Rock RCMP first tweeted about the emergency situation at the pier at 2:31 pm, advising the public that they would be shutting down Marine Drive until further notice.
Victoria Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre deployed a helicopter to the pier in order to hoist the stranded man to safety. Luckily, the individual as well as the crew are safe.
Extremely strong winds have also caused power outages across the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
Environment Canada issued a wind warning for all of Metro Vancouver’s municipalities early Thursday morning, cautioning that “very strong wind gusts that may cause damage are expected or occurring.”
— Elana Shepert, Vancouver is Awesome
Just after 1400 today #SAR Cormorant called to hoist one person from Whiterock Pier who was stranded after pier broke apart. Hoist successful, person safe.
— Victoria JRCC CCCOS (@VicJRCC_CCCOS) December 21, 2018
Our poor #WhiteRockPier! I hope those who were stuck were safely rescued though! #BCStorm #Vancouver #WhiteRock @cbcnewsbc @NEWS1130 #photos604 @Explore_WR pic.twitter.com/hBoN6G40wl
— Tyler Ingram (@TylerIngram) December 21, 2018
Amazing job by our SAR team.!#whiterockpier #WhiteRock #BCStorm pic.twitter.com/pJGVHw8DHu
— Residualimage (@residualimage) December 21, 2018