The wind came late and stayed a little too long. More than 150 thousand homes and businesses were hit by blackouts as strong winds hit the Lower Mainland Monday. Some of the strongest winds on the south coast were almost 110 km/h keeping BC Hydro crews and contractors busy. Meanwhile, home and business owners have been asked to keep storm drains clear of leaves so water from the heavy rain can clear.

Weather warnings remain posted as heavy rain and strong winds continue to hit the B.C. south coast. Wind and snow warnings are also up for mountain passes heading in and out of the Lower Mainland. Extra BC Hydro crews and contractors have been called-in in anticipation of power outages. The storm conditions are expected to end by Monday afternoon.

Golden Ears Park north of Maple Ridge is closed until further notice thanks to damage from the recent heavy rain. The stormy weather has cut into river banks and park roads and left lots of debris. The campgrounds are closed. There will be no vehicle access to Golden Ears until further notice.

Three people died in an intense house fire north of Duncan on Monday. All bodies were found at the scene. The updated details from the RCMP come more than two days after firefighters from North Cowichan, Maple Bay, Crofton and Chemainus were called to put out the fire. That house is now rubble. There’s still no word on how the fire started.

Premier David Eby is reaching out to opposition members following word the NDP will form a thin, majority government. Eby says his party has its work cut-out noting British Columbians want more from their government. He’s not ruling out asking a BC Conservative to serve as Speaker of the House. The comments come in his first official news conference following the confirmation of results from the B.C. election.

The BC NDP have managed to scrape out a slim, majority government after several recounts. Barring any unexpected change due to a judicial recount, David Eby’s New Democrats return to power with 47 seats. That means they won’t need the support of B.C.’s two newly elected Green MLAs to pass legislation. The BC Conservatives won 44 seats.

David Eby and the BC NDP appear all-but-certain to form that minority government - election night results from a week ago are holding after weekend recounts. The NDP has increased its lead in some close races but no seats have flipped. Only a small number of absentee ballots are left to be counted before Elections BC confirms its final result.

British Columbians will have to wait until next week - at the earliest - to learn the official results of the provincial election. Elections BC says a final count will be finished on Monday. If election night results hold, David Eby will most likely remain as premier in a minority government. The BC Greens will hold the balance of power and are not entertaining any notions of partnering with the BC Conservatives to remove the NDP from power.

ICBC is now dealing with 266 claims relating to damage from the weekend rainstorms. In some cases, cars floated away due to flooding. Many of the vehicles suffered repairable electrical damage - others are write-offs. ICBC has warned all drivers with partially submerged vehicles to not start the ignition until all the water is gone.

The BC Greens are not ready to formally enter into any agreement with the presumptive governing NDP. That’s the word from New Democrat leader David Eby who also says he’s preparing for every possibility as he awaits the still-to-be confirmed outcome of the provincial election. Meanwhile, Sonia Furstenau has confirmed she will stay on as leader of the BC Greens despite losing her seat.