- Canada will send troops to assist communities affected by the floods.
- Rainfall in British Columbia is as high as 250 mm.
- 1 person was confirmed dead.
The Canadian government said on Wednesday that after record rainfall along the Pacific coast triggered a state of emergency, Canada is sending troops to help evacuate and support communities hit by “catastrophic” floods.
Heavy downpours in British Columbia this week trapped motorists in mudslides, causing at least one death and three missing, forcing thousands to flee their homes and cutting off Vancouver and its port.
Read | Police say at least one person was killed in a Canadian mudslide
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated in Washington before meeting with his colleagues in the United States and Mexico that the heavy rains had caused “historic and terrible floods, disrupting the lives of the people of British Columbia and taking their lives.”
He said:
I can confirm that there are currently hundreds of members of the Canadian Armed Forces heading to British Columbia to help deal with everything from supplies to evacuation to any need.
The governor of British Columbia, John Hogan, declared a state of emergency and imposed a travel ban, telling reporters that the “catastrophic” rainfall, high winds and flooding “destroyed entire communities in our province.”
He added:
We expect to confirm more deaths in the next few days.
This week’s extreme weather occurred after British Columbia suffered record-breaking summer heat that killed more than 500 people and destroyed a town by wildfires.
“Due to the effects of man-made climate change, these events are becoming more frequent,” Hogan commented, just days after world leaders held the COP26 climate meeting in Glasgow.
Evacuation order
By Tuesday afternoon, the rainstorm had subsided. An estimated 300 motorists trapped on the highway due to mudslides have been airlifted to safety, and some evacuation orders have been cancelled.
But Henry Braun, the mayor of Abbotsford, which was hit hard in the east of Vancouver, said at a briefing: “We are not out of trouble.”
He said:
If we have another weather event, as we have just experienced, we are plunged into the abyss.
At the same time, after the body of a woman was found in a mudslide near Lillooet, 250 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, the search for more possible victims continued.
The driver Kathie Rennie told the public broadcaster CBC that she had witnessed “the whole mountain collapsed and the cars were driven away…everything was washed away. Completely panicked.”
As the first snow of the season began to fall in mud-covered and partially submerged inland towns, residents scrambled to find food, heat and water.
Due to supply chain disruptions leading to panic buying, many grocery store shelves are empty.
He would like to urge the public not to hoard: “You don’t need 48 eggs. One dozen is enough, and the rest is left to others.”
In the suburbs of Vancouver, livestock were pulled from hundreds of flooded farms on the Sumas Meadows-including a cow being dragged behind a motorboat through a meter of water to high ground.
The Minister of Agriculture of British Columbia, Lana Popham, said: “We have thousands of animals dead,” and many more animals are in “difficulty.”
Overnight, nearly 200 people were airlifted from the area to safety.
tornado
The main highway remains closed. Therefore, motorists who want to travel to and from Vancouver must head south to the United States and then return to Canada.
The landslide also cut off rail traffic to and from Vancouver, one of Canada’s busiest freight seaports.
He Jin said: “We are working hard to assess the damage and ensure that we can restore these supply roads to normal as soon as possible.”
“But the conditions are severe.”
Environment Canada said that on Sunday and Monday, the rainfall in Vancouver and its surrounding areas was as high as 250 mm—the area usually receives rainfall within a month—and was also hit by a rare tornado last week.
Meteorologists blamed the flooding on “atmospheric rivers,” the long and narrow belts of moisture that carried from the tropics to the poles.
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