With a new storm approaching on Sunday, eyes are on the skies in British Columbia, where a storm knocked out power Wednesday to 210,000 homes and ended with a massive boil-water advisory.

The incoming storm isn't predicted to be as strong as the one that paralyzed B.C.'s Lower Mainland earlier in the week, but the power still isn't back on everywhere after the first storm.

A massive repair and cleanup effort continued Saturday in many parts of the Lower Mainland after the storm's violent winds and heavy rains downed power lines and toppled trees.

About 6,000 homes on the Lower Mainland and another 450 on Vancouver Island were still without power Saturday afternoon.

Work crews discovered an 45-centimetre-wide fissure developing in a ridge overhanging the village of Lion's Bay on Friday. Worried that the incoming storm might bring the ridge down on the village, an evacuation alert was issued, and then was called off when geotechnical experts said it wasn't necessary.

As a precaution, work crews began clearing the overhanging soil on Saturday.

Half to three-quarters of Lion's Bay residents left their village in the Lower Mainland when the power went out.

Mary Brown, who stayed behind, said she is trying to keep a freezer full of salmon from thawing. "I have about 100 pounds of salmon here," she told CTV News on Saturday. "We're camping at home."

Meanwhile, Vancouver entered its third straight day living under a boil-water advisory on Saturday, with just under one million residents still subject to strict warnings about tap water consumption after Wednesday's storm stirred up water supplies.

It is the single largest water advisory in Canadian history, and has led to widespread bottled water shortages and even a lack of coffee in the nation's caffination capital.

Many espresso machines are hooked directly into the city's water supply, and with taps spewing brown water, many baristas have shut off the flow.

Not prepared for emergency

Authorities say that the storm showed British Columbians aren't prepared for emergencies.

Store shelves were quickly emptied of water on Friday as more than two million residents responded to the boil water advisory.

"It's a wake up call for everybody to go out and get prepared, Michael Smith, Vancouver Fire Emergency Preparedness officer, told CTV News.

"The bottom line is that you have to be self-sufficient without emergency services responding, for at least three days," he said.

Smith said every household should stock four litres of water per person per day, flashlights and batteries, non-perishable food, duct tape and first aid supplies.

The good news is that no bacteria or parasites have been detected in the water, said Dr. Roland Guasparini, the chief medical health officer for the Fraser Health Authority.

For information about boil-water advisories, including how long to properly boil tap water for safe drinking, click here.

Advisories were lifted Friday in much of the surrounding area, but about 900,000 people living in Vancouver, the North Shore and Burnaby were still being advised to boil all tap water before drinking it as of Saturday morning.

Those areas draw water from the Seymour and Capilano reservoirs, which were affected by mudslides from this week's storms. Areas where the advisories were lifted get water from the Coquitlam reservoir, where didn't suffer from mudslides.

"We're watching the Vancouver situation closely obviously a little concerned with what's occurred there and we're hoping it will be resolved shortly," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters Saturday at a news briefing in Vietnam, where he's attending an APEC summit.

Harper said he hopes to speak to B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, who is in China on a trade and business development mission, this weekend.

The boil-water advisory was issued on Thursday after the powerful rain and wind storm on Wednesday stirred up reservoirs and overwhelmed the water treatment system.

Water coming out of taps was cloudy and brown and authorities were concerned the particulates in the water would make it harder to disinfect the water, increasing the risk of gastro-intestinal illness.

Residents were told not to drink the water, wash vegetables with it, or use it to brush their teeth without boiling it first.

No one sick so far

Health care workers said that so far they haven't seen an increase in sick people since a boil-water advisory was issued for British Columbia's Lower Mainland.

But Fraser Health spokeswoman Naseem Nuraney said that it might be difficult to link symptoms with contaminated water.

"It's the time of year where it's flu season and lots of other things that are going on so if somebody does go to the hospital sick, it's very hard to tie it with contaminated water," she told The Canadian Press.

Symptoms from tainted water won't be the same for everyone, and can emerge within a wide timeframe that can span hours or weeks.

CTV's medical specialist Dr. Rhonda Low told CTV News that people don't need to worry if they've already drunk some of the water, because the risk is low and the advisory is a precaution.

If you should start to experience symptoms of abdominal discomfort, bloating or watery diarrhea, see your family doctor, Low said.

With files from The Canadian Press