The Canadian Pacific Coast region has suffered repeated natural disasters in just a few months.
The floods that affected western Canada caused at least four deaths and one missing person, local authorities announced on Saturday, restricting access to fuel in the affected regions.
Torrential rains in southwestern British Columbia province last Sunday and Monday triggered landslides and flooding, destroying roads and infrastructure.
The Trans Mountain Pipeline, crucial to Alberta’s oil industry, was temporarily closed.
The Royal Gendarmerie (GRC, federal police) confirmed on Saturday that three men, reported missing since Monday, were found dead near Duffy Lake.
“We are continuing the search to find a fourth man, but the weather conditions and the state of the areas make the task difficult,” explained Sgt. Janelle Shoihet, in a GRC statement.
These three deaths bring the number of deaths from the floods to four. The lifeless body of a woman had been found near a landslide that washed away a large part of a highway, near Lillooet, 250 kilometers from Vancouver.
This highway axis, which connects Vancouver with isolated regions in the north of the province, was reopened on Saturday for “essential only” traffic, British Columbia authorities announced in a statement.
Authorities imposed on private drivers on Friday a maximum of 30 liters of fuel per load, in order to mitigate the effects on the supply chains that this extreme weather episode generated.
This measure may be in effect for “10 days,” estimated British Columbia Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth, who urged his fellow citizens to limit travel to save gas.
In Abbotsford, partly flooded and where the Army was deployed, the farms were supplied by helicopters. Four tons of food was airlifted to a pig farm on Saturday, authorities said.
Meanwhile, significant rainfall is expected to fall in the area next week.
This region of the Canadian Pacific coast has suffered repeated natural disasters in a few months: an episode of intense heat at the end of July left more than 500 dead, as well as forest fires that destroyed a town as a result of global warming, according to experts. (I)
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