“Highways are not made for so much accumulation”: a Quebecer witnesses torrential rains in California

A Quebecer on a business trip in California suffered the repercussions torrential rains Who fell there, while the weather is also getting wild in Nova Scotia, buried after a historic snowstorm.

• Read also: Severe storm kills at least three in California

“We must have received five or six weather alerts on our phones. They are asking to stop travel because it can pose a danger to life,” explains Gabriel Tremblay, who is in Orange County, California.

He was therefore in one of the eight counties of the American state in a state of emergency on Tuesday, due to heavy rains which continue to threaten the region.

In the last few days, a first storm caused dangerous floods, mudslides and landslides, killing at least three people and depriving nearly half a million homes of electricity.

Gabriel Tremblay is in California for work.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY GABRIEL TREMBLAY

“Highways are not made for so much water accumulation, there are parts of the highway that had to be closed, palm leaves and other debris on the road,” testifies Gabriel Tremblay.

When he arrived last week, he had to change hotels because water had seeped into his room.

“It was wet on the carpet up to 30 centimeters from the wall,” says the man who works for a Montreal electronics company.

More than a meter of snow in Nova Scotia

In Nova Scotia, it was the snow that fell over the weekend that paralyzed travel.

“Record quantities fell,” explains Bob Robichaud, meteorologist at Environment Canada, who describes the storm as “historic.”

Up to 150 centimeters of snow fell, including around Cape Breton.


water laboratory

PHOTO PROVIDED BY DEANNA PETER

“We’re still going to have a lot of snow to shovel in the coming days. The snowplow hasn’t come for four days,” Patrick Poupart, a resident of the island in the northeast of the province, testified to LCN on Tuesday.

More precipitation expected

Such weather phenomena are expected to recur in the future with the warming of the atmosphere at ground level.

“In the east of the country, we expect fewer snowstorms, but the storms we will have will be more intense,” explains Christopher McCray, specialist in climate simulation and analysis at the Ouranos scientific research consortium.

In California, already struggling with atmospheric corridors, even more episodes of heavy rain must be expected in the future.

“We designed our cities for a much cooler and less rainy climate, but our infrastructure will have to be updated based on much greater precipitation,” underlines the expert.

With AFP and TVA Nouvelles

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