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Heavy rainfall floods streets, knocks down trees in Metro Vancouver

WATCH ABOVE: Heavy rainfall floods Vancouver, Burnaby streets – Oct 20, 2017

After a heavy rainfall warning was declared for Metro Vancouver Wednesday, Mother Nature delivered in spades throughout the afternoon.

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Streets were flooded, trees were toppled, and cars were seen floating in the waters as up to 50 millimetres fell across the region.

In Burnaby, heavy flooding closed the area around the Gilmore SkyTrain station, blocking transit users from reaching the trains, which continued to run through the station.

WATCH: Catherine Urquhart was on the scene near Gilmore Skytrain station in Burnaby, where vehicles struggled through intense flash flooding.

By Wednesday evening, Gilmore Avenue was closed between Still Creek Drive and Douglas Road, and Still Creek Drive was closed between Douglas Road and Westminster Avenue.

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TransLink also announced that there was flooding in the Coquitlam West Coast Express station, forcing officials to close it off to train traffic. The station was reopened just before 6 p.m.

Throughout the Metro Vancouver area, trees, branches and power lines came down under the weight of the rain and wind.

In Burnaby, a car was seen floating in the water near Still Creek.

A car got stuck in the water in Burnaby near Still Creek Wedneday afternoon. Global News

The City of Vancouver’s 311 call centre was slammed with weather-related calls, prompting the city to ask people not to call unless it was an emergency.

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BC Hydro reported more than 3,500 customers were without power throughout the Lower Mainland and the Sunshine Coast as of Wednesday evening, primarily in the areas of Delta, Langley and Maple Ridge.

Environment Canada said the downpour for Metro Vancouver is expected to taper to showers by the evening.

As the rain continued to pummel the region throughout the day, residents took to social media to share pictures and video of the flooding.

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In Whistler, at least 15 centimetres of snow fell in the area Wednesday, with another 10 centimetres expected to fall by Thursday morning.

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