Boats run aground in Vancouver's False Creek after overnight windstorm
Posted on: Dec 18, 2025 08:05 IST | Posted by: Cbc
A list of boats ran aground in Vancouver's off-key Creek betimes wed morn amid a windstorm.
Thousands across the region lost power due to the storm, with gusts of more than 100 km/h recorded overnight and trees falling down across the Lower Mainland.
It's led to calls for governments to step up and deal with the problem of derelict boats along the water body.
"These docks, you couldn't have stood on them here last night because it was, you know, it's just maelstrom."
Brian Proctor, an Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist, said that Point Atkinson in West Vancouver recorded wind gusts of 102 km/h early Wednesday morning.
"Even the [Vancouver] airport reported ... 76 kilometres an hour," the forecaster said.
Those high winds wreaked havoc on many boats that were moored in False Creek.
Rusalka Pierce, who lives aboard her boat, was checking for possible damage Wednesday morning as a number of boats were stuck in the marina.
She says that some people who live on their boats do so because they lost their jobs and couldn't afford to live elsewhere, but most who do are responsible and clean up after themselves.
Derelict boats in False Creek a growing problem, residents say
"We try and do as best we can. We can't control stuff like this. We can't control people who just come and leave their boats here," she said.
"It's the people that come and leave their boats here on anchor and [do] not come back for months and months and months. They're the ones — they take us out."
Schneider was critical of boat owners who abandoned their boats along False Creek, and said taxpayers would be responsible for any cleanup that ensued.
"So far, we haven't seen any loss of life, but it's inevitable that someone is going to get hurt," he said.
A spokesperson for the Canadian Coast Guard said that it observed no visible pollution at Heather Civic Marina on Wednesday morning, but rescuers worked to free entangled vessels and re-anchor them.
Schneider says that there are 21 separate government agencies that have jurisdiction over parts of False Creek.
He called for the appointment of a harbour master to regulate the boats that are moored there, and ensure they have liability insurance.
"We need to have much more responsibility, and some government agency to step forward, [and] say, 'OK, we see the what the problem is, we're going to start planning for the future protection of False Creek,'" he said.
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