In images, in picturesHeavy rains and landslides resulted in the death of a woman. Research continues.
Torrential rains, landslides and flooding that have hit British Columbia in western Canada in recent days have left at least one dead and thousands of evacuees, local authorities said Tuesday (November 16th). . “The total number of people and vehicles missing has not been confirmed”, they added.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the federal police, said in a statement:
“Woman’s body was found in a landslide that occurred on Highway 99, near Lillooet [à 250 kilomètres par la route au nord de Vancouver] Monday morning, and research continues today. “
“We expect this evacuation order to remain in place for probably more than a week., explained the municipality of Merritt in a statement on Tuesday. Floods continue to cause dangerous situations and significant damage. “ “All rail services to and from the Port of Vancouver” were interrupted, said Matti Polychronis, a spokesperson for the port authority.
The rain had stopped but many roads remained closed and towns were still flooded after the Fraser Valley reported up to 250 millimeters of precipitation on Monday, according to images broadcast by Canadian television.
“To Hope [à une centaine de kilomètres à l’est de Vancouver], we saw 174 mm in twenty-four hours on Sunday and 250 mm over forty-eight hours, unheard of in this station in all of its history ”, underlined Armel Castellan, meteorologist at the Canadian environment ministry. Some places received roughly 95% of their monthly rainfall in twenty-four hours, according to this expert.
“I have no doubt that these events are linked to climate change, they are unprecedented by nature”, said Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety for British Columbia, a few months after numerous forest fires ravaged the province.
Many districts were also evacuated, including 1,100 people in areas of Abbotsford, a few tens of kilometers east of Vancouver. “It breaks my heart to see what is happening to our city”, regretted Henry Braun, the mayor of this town of about 150,000 inhabitants located on the Canada-US border. The city council explained that the floods were mainly due to the flooding of the Nooksack River in the United States. “It is the worst I have seen since I immigrated here in September 1953”, he lamented during a press briefing.
About 9,000 people were still without power, according to an update from BC Hydro. “We are very concerned about the situation in British Columbia”Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday. “We are going to be there with all the resources that British Columbia could need”, he added.