Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
A deadly storm has wreaked havoc throwing life out of gear and disconnecting Vancouver from the rest of the Canada.
Major road routes to Vancouver are closed after torrential rain across British Columbia. Authorities in Canada said at least one person died and two were missing and in torrential rains that trapped motorists in mudslides, forced thousands to evacuate their homes and cut off Vancouver from the rest of the country.
Search and rescue teams recovered the body of a woman from a mudslide near Lillooet, 250km north of Vancouver, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.
Staff Sergeant Janelle Shoihet added that investigators have received two missing person reports, but that they believe there may have been other occupied vehicles that were lost in the slide. “The total number of people and vehicles unaccounted for has not been confirmed,” she said.
The rains had let up by late Tuesday. But mudslides, rocks and debris washed out several highways leading to Vancouver, trapping hundreds of motorists who were rescued by helicopters by nightfall on Monday. Two motorways connecting the West Coast city were closed after being damaged by severe flooding.
Thousands of people were forced to leave their homes due to the massive storm. A woman was killed in a highway landslide, and rescuers say at least two other people are missing.
The provincial minister of transportation, Rob Fleming, told a news conference it was the worst weather storm in a century. Minister of public safety, Mike Farnworth, said he had no doubt that the storm was linked to climate change.
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Thousands of homes in British Columbia were evacuated after an atmospheric river – a long strip of moisture in the atmosphere that transports water from tropical regions towards the poles – dumped the region’s monthly rainfall average in just 24 hours. All 7,000 residents of Merritt, about 120 miles north-east of Vancouver, were ordered to flee their homes.
The storm comes after British Columbia suffered a record high heat wave over last summer that killed more than 500 people, and wildfires that destroyed an entire town.
