Torrential rains that fell on Sunday and Monday caused landslides and extensive flooding in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
British Columbia Premier John Horgan has declared a state of emergency declared.
Thousands of people have been evacuated and displaced.
For now, the balance sheet shows a deceased person but it could worsen.
Four people are missing in landslides, police say.
“Unfortunately, we expect to confirm even more deaths in the coming days,” regretted the Prime Minister.
The state of emergency aims to restore as quickly as possible access to highways, which have been closed for several days, disrupting supply chains.
This inclement weather also led to the disruption of rail services to the Port of Vancouver.
Travel is not recommended in order to prioritize the delivery of essential goods and medical and emergency services.
This measure is in effect for 14 days and can be extended.
"Extreme weather events"
Earlier today, the Canadian government announced the deployment of "Canadian Forces air support to assist with evacuation efforts, support supply routes and protect residents from flooding and landslides."
"Hundreds of members of the Canadian armed forces are on their way to help," explained Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, adding that thousands of soldiers could be sent.
Justin Trudeau, traveling to Washington, also promised that the government "would be there for the cleanup and reconstruction" after these "extreme weather events".
Other soldiers @ForcesCanada are on their way to help #flood victims in B.C. Today, a CC130J @RCAF_ARC took off from Trenton and will establish a relay in #Edmonton from where reconnaissance and coordination of @operationsFC elements pic.twitter.com/wy6BofdgbU
- ARC Operations (@OperationsArc) November 17, 2021
Today, entire streets are still underwater in many cities after the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver reported as much as 250mm of precipitation on Monday.
Some places received about 95% of their monthly precipitation in 24 hours.
“The next steps may require extraordinary measures only permitted under the state of emergency,” added Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety.
".
In addition to the pandemic, this region was partly affected since the fires of this summer.
Thus, the village of Lytton, 250 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, had been 90% destroyed at the end of June by a fire in the middle of an extreme heat wave after reaching 49.6 degrees.
Thousands of animals perished
John Horgan warned that "these events are increasing in regularity due to the effects of human-induced climate change" and stressed that they were "unprecedented challenges in public health, forest fires, heat domes and now never seen before flooding.
"
These floods particularly affect farmers in the region.
“Some are still inundated, others are sheltered and we have thousands of animals that have perished,” lamented Lana Popham, the provincial Minister of Agriculture.
#British Columbia #flooding community members and farmers gather to save ten stranded cows..with the help of jet skis seaplane #Canada pic.twitter.com/qy9SN2uSdR
- miki (@elcartagenese) November 18, 2021
Images showed a man on a jet ski pulling a cow with a rope to rescue her despite the high water level, or a farmer evacuating a goat from a flooded barn.
COW RESCUE: Cows trapped in floodwaters in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada were rescued on Tuesday by first responders and locals on dinghies and jet skis after the Fraser River flooded.
pic.twitter.com/qhj9yclka9
- CBS News (@CBSNews) November 18, 2021
