Crew members from Royal Canadian Air Force 442 Squadron lead some of over 300 motorists stranded by mudslides
(Picture: via REUTERS)At least one person has been killed and several more are feared dead following a huge storm on Canada’s Pacific north-west.
Vancouver, the country’s largest port city, was completely cut off by flood waters after two days of torrential rain.
It came as officials from the province of British Columbia (BC) confirmed that at least 10 vehicles had been swept off a highway on Tuesday during a landslide sparked by floods.
David MacKenzie, the Pemberton district and search manager, told the Globe and Mail: “We’re hopeful to find people alive. But obviously that diminishes with time, the nature of the slide activity.
“People being caught up in mud and debris, it certainly diminishes as time goes by.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Vancouver Port confirmed all rail services would be halted as a result of flooding. The port moves around £327 million worth of cargo a day, ranging from cars and finished goods to essential commodities.
The floods have also hampered pipelines, forcing the closure of the Trans Mountain pipeline which carries up to 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Alberta province to the Pacific coast.
Some areas of British Columbia received 8 inches of rain on Sunday - the amount that usually falls in a month.
Authorities in Merritt, some 120 miles northeast of Vancouver, ordered all 8,000 citizens to leave on Monday as river waters rose quickly. Rescue helicopters airlifted 275 people, including 50 children, from a section of the highway blocked by landslides.
However, some were still trapped in their homes on Tuesday, said city spokesman Greg Lowis. Footage posted on social media showed cars floating in flood waters of up to 4ft deep.
BC’s public safety minister Mike Farnworth warned members of the public not to drive anywhere as emergency services continued to clear debris. He denied claims that officials had not adequately prepared citizens for the heavy rain.
“Those warnings and travel advisories are out. You know there was a lot of warnings that you know there’s a lot of rain coming and you know what most people stay home,” he said.
“Most people stayed home and the reality is that communities are prepared.”
