Thousands of people evacuated and without electricity, hundreds more stranded in their vehicles, an oil pipeline stopped: torrential rains caused flooding and landslides, paralyzing several cities in British Columbia on Monday, November 15 , in western Canada.
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"After heavy rains, landslides and flooding hit various roads in the interior of British Columbia,"
tweeted the province's Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure overnight Sunday through Monday. Several highways were in fact closed there in areas already affected this summer by major forest fires. Tens of thousands of people across the province were affected by power cuts, according to Hydro BC. At the end of the day, the emergency services said they had transported the evening before nine patients with minor injuries following a landslide in this area.
"80 to 100 vehicles"
were also stranded since last night by landslides on a highway near Agassiz, about 100 kilometers east of Vancouver, authorities said at a press briefing. in the morning.
Rescue teams, firefighters and police are deployed to help them.
The Canadian forces sent helicopters to rescue these motorists, around 275 people were stranded in their vehicles, including about 50 children, according to local media.
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Images relayed by local authorities showed the rise of the Similkameen River in southern British Columbia. Others showed the town of Merritt, inundated by the flooding of the Coldwater River. The approximately 7,000 residents of this city located 300 km northeast of Vancouver were ordered to evacuate to emergency centers in the morning, then banned from returning to Merritt after the flooding of the wastewater treatment plant. Two bridges were also flooded.
"To the people of Merritt and to British Columbians affected by the flooding: be careful,"
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pleaded on Twitter in the afternoon.
“We're going to be there to provide you with the support you need to help you deal with and recover from these floods and extreme conditions
,” he pledged.
In addition, the inclement weather led to the closure of the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline, which was nationalized by Justin Trudeau's government in 2018. The pipeline was shut down
"as a precaution"
the company confirmed to the company. AFP, because of
"extensive flooding and mudslides sweeping debris in the Hope area,"
150 km east of Vancouver. Expansion work on the pipeline, which is due to come into service by the end of 2022, has also been halted in the
“Lower Mainland, Hope and Merritt” areas due to prolonged torrential rains.
.
These aim to increase from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day the capacity of this pipeline which carries oil from the tar sands of Alberta, the heart of the Canadian oil industry, to the suburbs of Vancouver.
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A little west of Agassiz, the city of Abbotsford issued an evacuation order for more than a hundred homes after the bad weather.
"In just 140 days, Abbotsford recorded its hottest day in history
(42.9 ° C)
and now the wettest day in history
(100.4 mm),
"
Tyler observed on Twitter. Hamilton, a meteorologist from the region.
The Department of the Environment, which notes that
"nearly 230 mm"
of rain were observed in the Fraser Valley, predicted early afternoon still 30 mm of precipitation on Monday.
