Key Takeaways:
- All the 7,100 citizens to leave after increasing waters cut off bridges and asked the wastewater treatment plant to close.
- Massive rainstorms have destroyed the western Canadian province of British Columbia on Monday
Massive rainstorms have destroyed the western Canadian province of British Columbia on Monday, leading to landslides, shutting roads, prompting the clearance of an entire town and making an oil pipeline to close.
Officials in Merritt that is some 200km (124 miles) northeast of Vancouver, asked all 7,100 citizens to leave after increasing waters cut off bridges and asked the wastewater treatment plant to close.
“Ongoing habitat of the community without services sanitary presents risk of mass sewage reserves and personal health risk,” the city said in an official statement.
200mm (8 inches) of rain was reached to some areas on Sunday and the deluge continued on Monday, with roads seen covered by mud or up to 250mm (10 inches) of water.
Also Read-MotorTrend Car of the Year is named to Lucid Air
“Heavy rains and subsequent mudslides/flooding have impacted various highways in the BC interior,” British Columbia’s transportation ministry said on Twitter. The closure of the Trans Mountain pipeline were forced by the storms, which takes crude from Alberta to the Pacific Coast. The line has a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day.
Work on a proposed expansion project has also been halted, the operating company said.
Rescuers were deployed to free people who were trapped for hours in 80-100 cars and also the trucks between near the town of Agassiz, the safety minister, Mike Farnworth said
People may have to be airlifted out, he said, although high winds could “challenge these efforts”.
“The side of the mountain has just come apart,” stranded motorist Paul Deol told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Farnworth said there had been “multiple rain-induced incidents” in the southwest and central regions of the province, describing the situation as “dynamic”.
“It is very difficult weather.”
Source-CTV News
Get Canada and Yukon’s top News, Market News ,and other News of USA and worldwide only on yukonweekly.com
