Heavy rainfall in Canada forces evacuations, traps motorists

 

Relentless rain battered Canada's Pacific coast on Monday, forcing a town's evacuation and trapping motorists as mudslides, rocks and debris were washed across major highways.

Some 275 people, according to local media, were stuck overnight in their cars between two mudslides on Highway 7 near the town of Agassiz in British Columbia.

Merritt -- about 300 kilometres (185 miles) from the coast -- meanwhile ordered the evacuation of all 7,000 of its townsfolk after flooding compromised the local wastewater treatment plant and washed out two bridges. Barricades also went up restricting access to the town.

The province's public safety minister, Mike Farnworth, said search and rescue crews were dispatched to free people trapped for hours without food or water in 80 to 100 cars.

"We are looking at the possibility of air rescues, if needed," he told a news conference, adding that "high winds may challenge these efforts."

Farnworth said there had been "multiple rain-induced incidents" in the southwest and central regions of the province, describing the situation as "dynamic."

Video footage showed a military helicopter landing on the highway covered in mud and debris, to pick up stranded motorists.

British Columbia emergency health services said it transported nine patients to hospital with minor injuries overnight from the Agassiz landslide.

And it assembled ambulances in nearby Chilliwack "for any patients requiring care from areas affected by flooding and landslides," it added.

Emergency centres were also set up for displaced residents.

In a Twitter message to British Columbians, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: "Please stay safe."

"We're ready to provide whatever assistance is needed as you deal with and recover from the flooding and this extreme weather," he said.

Wettest ever

British Columbia's transportation ministry said several highways were closed Monday. "Heavy rains and subsequent mudslides/flooding have impacted various highways in the BC interior," it said.

The local utility issued flood alerts due to high water flows into its reservoirs, and said it was working to restore power to thousands hit by outages.

Construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline connecting the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific coast was also paused, a company spokesperson told AFP, "due to widespread flooding and debris flows."

In the city of Abbotsford, outside Vancouver, authorities ordered more than 100 homes evacuated in several neighbourhoods threatened by flooding and mudslides, while television images showed farms in the Fraser Valley under several feet of water.

Meteorologist Tyler Hamilton commented on social media that Abbotsford in the past 140 days had experienced both its warmest and wettest days ever.

Environment Canada said up to 250 millimetres (almost 10 inches) of rain -- what the region normally gets in a month -- was expected by the day's end in and around Vancouver, which was also hit last week by a rare tornado.

"A significant atmospheric river event continues to bring copious amounts of rain to the B.C. 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 temperatures over the summer that killed more than 500 people, as well as wildfires that destroyed a town.