Schools are closed in the Cowichan Valley School District, the campus of Vancouver Island University is shut down for the day, and there is no transit bus service until further notice in the Cowichan Valley.
The office, health centre, and school at Cowichan Tribes are also closed for the day.
A travel advisory was issued this morning for Highway-1, covering the section of the highway from Butterfield Road in South Cowichan, the Malahat, and south to Tillicum Road in Saanich as Drive BC reported limited visibility for that section of the highway.
The heavy snowfall kept highway and municipal crews busy overnight clearing major routes for vehicles to get through.
Many of the rural roads and side streets in the valley may not be cleared immediately and it might be advisable to postpone unnecessary travel.
The Cowichan Valley Regional District says the curbside collection of garbage and recycling in Sahtlam and Saltair will not happen today and residents are asked to bring materials inside and hold them for the next scheduled collection day.
North Cowichan says the Red B Zone recycling collection in the Maple Bay area will not be picked up today.
The Municipality says recycling will be collected on the next scheduled day.
Garbage and kitchen waste will be picked up as usual.
BC Hydro reported several overnight power outages.
Nearly 800 hydro customers on the west side of Shawnigan Lake remained without power as of 8:30 am this morning.
BC Hydro reports the outage began at 5:14 am.
There were numerous power outages on the Southern Gulf Islands from Gabriola Island near Nanaimo to Saltspring and Pender Islands in the south.
