BC weather: Storm closes Highway 4 on Vancouver Island

Almost 40 kilometers of Highway 4 on Vancouver Island was closed Tuesday evening due to the effects of a storm predicted to hit the South Coast.

DriveBC announced traffic was closed between Coombs and Port Alberni just before 6 p.m.

Port Alberni RCMP said in a social media post that the closure was due to “unsafe conditions” and that the detachment had already been dispatched to “multiple” accidents due to the treacherous mix of high winds and downed trees.

Before the highway was closed, the Port Alberni Fire Department said it received a report of a “tree falling on a truck.”

The closure comes as a “bomb cyclone” descends on the region, with forecasters predicting wind gusts of up to 70 mph.

BC Ferries has preemptively canceled all Tuesday evening sailings between the Mainland and Vancouver Island.