BC Ferries passengers were thrown about a ship buffeted by high winds and waves seven to 10 metres high early Monday on a voyage from Prince Rupert to Skidegate in the Queen Charlotte Islands.
CBC
Passengers describe a chaotic scene aboard the Northern Adventure as it was tossed in the rough waters of Hecate Strait, with people thrown out of their chairs as cafeteria dishes flew through the air.
There were no serious injuries to passengers, but the crew turned the ferry around and returned to Prince Rupert, a port on the northern mainland about 1,000 kilometres north of Vancouver by air.
90 km/h winds in forecast
Passengers report no ambulances or other emergency vehicles met the ferry when it arrived.
The ferry corporation says some crewmembers suffered minor injuries and some passengers got quite a fright.
An aerial view of the flooding in Vancouver Island's Cowichan Valley, where more drenching rains are predicted.
CBC
In this photo taken Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009, a man carries his belongings salvaged from his car trapped under collapsed building caused by heavy snow at a second-hand auto market in Zhengzhou, in central China's Henan province. Heavy snow and blizzards wiped north China, caused several death and hundreds of injuries, State media reported.
AP Photo
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AP Photo/Israel Leal
This NOAA satellite image taken Monday, November 09, 2009 at 12:45 AM EST shows Hurricane Ida at about 340 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. Low pressure in the western Gulf of Mexico kicks up showers and thunderstorms in eastern Texas and southern Louisiana. Meanwhile, a dry low pressure system moves into the Upper Midwest.
AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND
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AP Photo/Israel Leal
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AP Photo/Edgar Romero
A police officer stands next to the bodies of victims of floodings in Verapaz, some 125 kms east of San Salvador, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. Rescue crews dug through mud and rock slides Sunday looking for possible survivors from a massive wave of rain-fueled flood damage that authorities said killed 91 people throughout El Salvador and left about five dozen missing.
AP Photo/Edgar Romero
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AP Photo/New Zealand Herald, Matthew Putt
Tsunami damage outside Apia in Samoa on Wednesday Sept. 30, 2009. A powerful quake in the South Pacific hurled massive tsunami waves at the shores of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga flattening villages and sweeping cars and people back out to sea while leaving more than 100 dead and dozens missing.
AP Photo/New Zealand Herald, Brett Phibbs
Director Chip McCreery, points at wave activity computer grafts measured at Honolulu Harbor from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, September 29, 2009 in Ewa Beach, Hawaii on Oahu. An earthquake with a magnitude between 8.0 and 8.3, struck American Samoa today causing tsunami warning to be issued across the Pacific. Tsunami waves tsunami waves swept ashore on Samoa and American Samoa early Tuesday, flattening villages, killing at least 34 people. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cancelled the tsunami watch on Hawaii today.
AP Photo/Marco Garcia
"We had a few crew members who had a few bumps and bruises," said BC Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall. "There was a woman [passenger] who was eight months pregnant. While she wasn't physically injured, she was upset by the incident."
The storm damaged four cars on the ferry and also the vessel's starboard bow thruster, a device that helps the ship manoeuvre into dock.
Members of a high school girls volleyball team from the Queen Charlottes said the ferry ran into rough seas at about 1 a.m., about an hour after leaving Prince Rupert.
"It just started to rock about one o'clock," coach Debbie Lockland said. "Things were flying, you couldn't walk, the cafeteria was upside down, the gift shop cash register hanging."
Environment Canada weather forecasts were calling for southeasterly winds of 90 kilometres per hour during the voyage.
Passenger Tara Sjolund wondered why the ship sailed into such rough weather.
"I would say absolutely, lives were in danger," Sjolund said. "We were listing so badly from side to side. The captain got himself caught in that storm we never, ever should have been out on. "
Fisherman Wilson Brown said he wasn't sure he'd make it out alive.
"I've spent the last 37 years fishing crab out on the Hecate Strait," said Wilson. "Smart people don't go out in that kind of weather."
Crew aware of storm before sailing
BC Ferries says the crew was aware of the storm before leaving Prince Rupert.
"But it did come in faster than what was predicted, and worse than what was predicted," said Marshall.
Pictures sent by passengers to CBC News show shelved goods strewn across the floor of the ship's gift shop.
The Northern Adventure had left on a scheduled seven-hour trip before midnight Sunday. It was about halfway through its voyage when the crew decided to turn back, passengers said.
Future sailings were cancelled pending calmer weather, according to the BC Ferries website.
Tattooed model and PETA supporter Dani Lugosi protests against the wearing of wear with a sign saying "Ink Not Mink" at Pitt Street Mall on November 24, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. The protest is intended to draw attention to the suffering of animals on fur farms for the manufacture of fur coats.
Reflection of customers is seen in the eye of a buffalo, as they bargain with the seller at a market ahead of Eid al-Adha festival in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009. Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, is celebrated to commemorate the prophet Ibrahim's faith in being willing to sacrifice his son.
AP Photo/Pavel Rahma
Tattooed model and PETA supporter Dani Lugosi protests against the wearing of wear with a sign saying "Ink Not Mink" at Pitt Street Mall on November 24, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. The protest is intended to draw attention to the suffering of animals on fur farms for the manufacture of fur coats.
Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
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AP Photo/Mike Fuentes
First year students from St Andrews University take part in a tradition of covering themselves with foam to honour the 'academic family' on November 23, 2009 in St Andrews, Scotland. Held every November, Raisin Monday stems from a gift of raisins traditionally given by a first year student to their academic 'parents' in gratitude for their guidance.
Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
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Artist Lady GaGa performs onstage at the 37th Annual American Music Awards on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009, in Los Angeles.
AP Photo/Matt Sayles
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This May 31, 2007 file photo, shows a view of the LHC (large hadron collider) in its tunnel at CERN (European particle physics laboratory) near Geneva, Switzerland. Scientists switched on the world's largest atom smasher Friday night Nov. 20, 2009 for the first time since the $10 billion machine suffered a spectacular failure more than a year ago.
AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini, File
Sommelier Masahiko Mori pours a bottle of 2009 Beaujolais Nouveau into the wine spa at the Hakone Yunessun resort west of Tokyo, Japan.
TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images
Dogs encounter as their masters stroll in a street under the canopy of gingko trees in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, Nov. 20, 2009.
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