Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate in southern British Columbia and dozens of vehicles are still stranded there after heavy rains leading to flooding and landslides, local officials reported on Monday. .
“After heavy rains, landslides and flooding affected various roads in the interior of British Columbia,” the province’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure posted on Twitter overnight Sunday through Monday.
Several highways were in fact closed there in areas already affected this summer by major forest fires.
The approximately 7,000 residents of Merritt, located 300 km northeast of Vancouver, were ordered to evacuate at around 10 a.m. (1 p.m. in Quebec).
Two bridges were flooded while the sewage treatment plant was out of order, preventing residents from using tap water.
A hundred vehicles stranded
“80 to 100 vehicles” had also been stranded since last night by landslides on a highway near Agassiz, about 100 kilometers east of Vancouver, authorities said at a report. Press. Rescue, fire and police teams are deployed to rescue people trapped in these vehicles.
“We are considering the possibility of an air rescue if necessary,” said Mike Farnworth, provincial Minister of Public Safety, adding that “high winds can challenge these efforts.”
The latter, blowing up to 90 km / h, could cause widespread blackouts, warned Armel Castellan, of the Federal Ministry of the Environment, during this press briefing.
A little west of Agassiz, the city of Abbotsford issued an evacuation order for more than a hundred homes after the bad weather.
The Department of the Environment, which notes that “nearly 180 to 200 mm of rain were observed over the central and eastern Fraser Valley”, still predicts 50 mm of precipitation on Monday.