Heavy rainfall in Canada: Emergency centers have been established for displaced people.
Ottawa:
Unrelenting rain lashed Canada’s Pacific coast on Monday, forcing an evacuation of a town and stranding motorists as mudslides, rocks and debris drifted across major highways.
About 275 people, according to local media, were trapped overnight in their cars between two landslides on Highway 7 near the town of Agassiz in British Columbia.
Merritt – about 300 kilometers (185 miles) from the coast – meanwhile ordered the evacuation of all 7,000 residents in the town after floods damaged a local sewage treatment plant and washed away two bridges. Barriers were also increased to limit access to the town.
The province’s Minister of Public Safety, Mike Farnworth, said search and rescue teams were dispatched to free people trapped for hours without food or water in 80 to 100 vehicles. a little bit.
“We are looking at the possibility of air rescue, if needed,” he told a news conference, adding that “high winds could challenge these efforts.”
Farnworth said there had been “multiple rain-induced incidents” in southwestern and central parts of the province, describing the situation as “dynamic”.
The video shows a military helicopter landing on a highway covered in mud and debris, to pick up stranded motorists.
British Columbia’s emergency medical services said they transported nine patients to hospital with minor injuries overnight from a landslide in Agassiz.
And it has assembled ambulances in nearby Chilliwack “for any patient needing care from areas affected by floods and landslides,” it added.
Emergency centers were also established for displaced people.
In a Twitter message to the people of British Columbia, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “Please stay safe.”
“We stand ready to provide whatever support is needed as you respond to and recover from this flood and extreme weather,” he said.
Wettest ever
British Columbia’s transport department said some highways were closed on Monday. “Heavy rain and subsequent landslides/flooding affected various motorways in inland BC,” it said.
The local power company has issued a flood warning due to the high volume of water entering its reservoirs and said it was working to restore power to the thousands of people without power.
A company spokesman told AFP that construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline connecting the oil sands in Alberta to the Pacific coast has also been halted.
In Abbotsford, a suburb of Vancouver, authorities ordered the evacuation of more than 100 homes in several neighborhoods threatened by floods and landslides, while television images showed farms in the Valley Fraser valley below the water level several meters deep.
Meteorologist Tyler Hamilton commented on social media that Abbotsford over the past 140 days has experienced both the warmest and wettest days ever.
Environment Canada says up to 250 millimeters of rain (nearly 10 inches) – the amount the region typically gets in a month – is expected later in the day in and around Vancouver, which is also affected by the virus. a rare tornado last week.
“A significant atmospheric river event continues to bring abundant rainfall to BC’s south coast,” it said.
“Heavy rain will ease and strong westerly winds will develop this afternoon as the system moves inland.”
The extreme weather comes after British Columbia suffered record-high summer temperatures that have killed more than 500 people, as well as wildfires burning through a town.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from the feed provided.)
