More than 150,000 homes were left without power Monday as strong winds battered coastal areas of British Columbia and much of the central part of the province.

THE List of BC Hydro outages shows that about 120,000 of those customers were in the Lower Mainland, while more than 32,000 customers on Vancouver Island were without power. Hundreds more were facing outages in the Okanagan and Kootenay regions.

The utility is now warning customers on Gambier, Keats, Texada and Bowen Islands that they could be without power overnight.

In a notice Posted on its website Monday afternoon, BC Hydro says it will address outages in order of priority.

“Our first priority is outages involving downed lines and situations that pose a risk to public safety,” he said. “Next, crews will focus on restoring power to critical and municipal services, followed by major outages affecting the greatest number of customers, and then more minor outages.”

Environment Canada said a “powerful storm system” hit the south coast after midnight Monday, with peak rainfall intensities expected Monday morning.

Between 40 and 70 millimeters of rain are expected on the north coast of Metro Vancouver, according to the forecaster, and strong winds are expected until the afternoon.

A special weather statement was also issued for Vancouver Island, where Environment Canada says 70 to 100 millimeters of rain could fall on the mountains of western Vancouver Island.

“I’m more concerned about the winds,” said Johnson Zhong, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, noting that gusts could reach up to 80 km/h in the Victoria region on Monday.

On the central coast and Haida Gwaii, wind gusts could reach 110 km/h until Monday morning, according to Environment Canada.

Wind warnings have been issued for Haida Gwaii, the central coast and exposed areas of northern Vancouver Island, as well as the Greater Victoria area.

“Loose objects may be thrown by the wind and cause injury or damage. High winds may result in power outages and fallen tree branches,” the warning states.

BC Ferries says several crossings have been delayed due to weather conditions.

In the mountain passes of southern British Columbia, the forecaster issued special weather statements warning of blowing snow on stretches like the Coquihalla Highway (Highway 5) from Hope to Merritt and Highway 3 from Paulson Summit to Kootenay Pass .

“Strong southerly winds ahead of the front and snow upstream will arrive Monday,” the statement said.

“Snow accumulations on the highest peaks like Coquihalla and Kootenay Pass could exceed 20 cm on Monday,” it added.

Zhong said with snow and strong winds, blowing snow could cause low visibility for drivers Monday afternoon.

Storm warnings come just over two weeks later an atmospheric river brought significant rain to the south coast, leading to the death of at least four people after mudslides and floods.

Zhong said the rainfall totals for Monday’s storm would not come close to those that occurred during the atmospheric river event, but there could still be some localized flooding or mudslides in the mountains.

“It’s more of a windstorm,” he said. “So…what could be (are) power outages, broken tree branches.”