The province of British Columbia in Canada declared a state of emergency Wednesday after floods hit several cities and forced thousands to flee their homes, with the federal government announcing an army mission to assist local forces.
The Prime Minister of British Columbia, John Horgan, has declared a state of emergency following torrential rains that caused landslides and floods on Sunday and Monday, killing at least three people.
Four others are missing after the landslides, police said during a press conference.
“Unfortunately we expect to confirm more deaths in the coming days,” Horgan said.
After the deadly summer heatwave in the same area, Horgan warned that “these events are increasing in frequency due to man-made climate change.”
The declaration of a state of emergency aims to speed up the restoration of highways that have been closed for several days, which causes problems in the supply chain. Due to the floods, the traffic of trains to and from the port of Vancouver was stopped. The authorities also advise citizens to avoid travel in order to facilitate the transport of basic goods and allow ambulances to move freely. This measure will be valid for 14 days and can be extended.
Earlier Wednesday, the federal government of Canada announced the deployment of “Canadian Air Force air support to assist evacuation operations, assist with supplies and protect civilians from floods and landslides.”
“Hundreds of members of the Canadian Armed Forces are on their way to help,” said Prime Minister Justin Trindade, adding that thousands of troops could be sent to British Columbia.
At the same time, Trinto pledged that the federal government “will be there to clean up and rehabilitate” after “these extreme meteorological phenomena”.
Entire roads are under water in several cities near Fraser Valley, east of Vancouver, where up to 250mm of rain fell on Monday.
In some areas, about 95% of the rainfall, which is usually recorded within a month, occurred within 24 hours.
A state of emergency was recently declared to deal with the covid-19 pandemic, as well as in the summer when catastrophic fires broke out in the area during an unprecedented heat wave.
90% of the village of Layton, 250 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, was destroyed in late June by a fire that broke out in mid-heat, with temperatures reaching 49.6 degrees Celsius.
Meteorological conditions in British Columbia were better yesterday, without rain. But the floods have mainly affected hundreds of farmers and ranchers in the area.
“Some are still under water, others have been left homeless and thousands of animals have drowned,” said Lana Popham, the province’s agriculture minister.
Posted videos show a man in a jet ski pulling a cow with a rope to save her or another pulling a goat out of a flooded garage.
Source: AMPE
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Source From: Capital
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