BC Hydro crews were at the ready to deal with power outages as a fall storm hit parts of British Columbia this weekend with high winds and heavy rains, downing trees and knocking out power for thousands of customers.

Spokeswoman Mora Scott said Saturday that crews were dispatched to deal with small pockets of outages in several areas of B.C., which were anticipated with stormy weather in the forecast.

“What that really allows us to do is make sure that we have our BC Hydro crews in the right places with the right equipment,” Scott said.

Environment Canada issued wind warnings for parts of the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands, and Scott said outages caused by downed trees are not uncommon at this time of the year.

The weather agency said a low pressure system was poised to bring strong gusts of up to 90 km/h to parts of Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island, expected to last into Sunday morning.

“At this time of year, trees do still have a lot of leaves on them, which adds to the weight and makes them kind of more susceptible on the wind,” Scott said. “The other piece that we’ve obviously been keeping a close eye on is the drought that’s impacted B.C. over the past several years.”

“It has left many dead and damaged trees, and those trees are much more susceptible to high winds than healthy trees,” she said.

Scott said this is the first storm of the fall season impacting many parts of the province, particularly in Greater Victoria, the Gulf Islands, and Metro Vancouver cities including Richmond, Delta, Langley and Surrey where outages may occur.

Environment Canada said it issues wind warnings when there’s a significant risk of damage from high winds, including power outages. It is also warning of snowfall on the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt, and on a mountainous stretch of Highway 3 in the B.C. interior.

BC Hydro dealt with a number of outages in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island, where trees came down across wires, temporarily affecting thousands of customers.

The company said more than 3,000 customers were without power in southeast Vancouver in the Victoria-Fraserview neighbourhood on Saturday, and an outage caused by fallen trees in Esquimalt on Vancouver Island saw more than 1,800 customers without power.

Environment Canada warned of flooding from a fall storm system hitting the B.C. coast on Friday, with high winds and heavy rains cancelling ferry sailings and swelling waterways.

The province’s River Forecast Centre maintained earlier high stream flow advisories for Vancouver Island and the South Coast including the Sunshine Coast, Howe Sound, Sea-to-Sky and surrounding areas, including the North Shore mountains and elsewhere in Metro Vancouver.