Update
2:59 p.m.
Local police have located a man who was missing after his float house was discovered smashed on the shore Thursday morning.
According to a press release from the RCMP, he was found along the shoreline in Bella Coola but was deceased when located.
BC Coroners Service will take over the investigation and the RCMP will not be releasing further information on the situation.
Search and Rescue, BC Parks, Department of Fisheries and Nuxalk First Nations Coastal Guardians were among those called to the search. The Coast Guard and other marine search and rescue were called in but due to bad weather at the time, all maritime search efforts were hampered.
9:31 a.m.
A float house was found destroyed and a man is missing in Bella Coola after an intense wind storm Wednesday night.
Fred Sorensen, the Bella Coola Fire Department fire chief, said the float house was moored at the Clayton Falls recreation site.
“We had some really severe winds and his float house ended up breaking off of its mooring and being smashed to pieces on the shore.”
At this point, the search continues for the missing resident of the float house.
Harbour manager Neil McLachlan said alot of people in the community, the RCMP and the local Search and Rescue were out searching.
About the wind, McLachlan noted that, “it was brutal, it came out of the valley just to the northeast of the dock. It reached 70 or 80 [kilometers] and there is no protection where he was.”
The Clayton Falls recreation site is located on Clayton Falls Creek, about five kilometers west of Bella Coola.