Canadian rains have forced people to evacuate cities, closing major oil pipelines | Flood News

Authorities in Merrit, British Columbia, have ordered people to evacuate when floodwaters ‘flooded the two bridges’ and forced the reservoir to close.

The typhoon ravaged western Canada in British Columbia on Monday, causing landslides, blocking roads, forcing people to evacuate the entire town and forcing an oil pipeline to close.

Authorities in Merritt, about 200km (124 km) northeast of Vancouver, have ordered all 7,100 residents to evacuate after rising water cut off bridges and forced sewage treatment plants to close.

“Continuing to live in a community without clean sanitation poses a risk of recurrence of many toilets as well as a threat to human health,” the city said in a statement.

Some areas received 200mm (8 inches) rain Sunday – the amount they see in a month – and the flooding continued Monday, with roads covered with mud or up to 250mm (10 inches) of water.

“Heavy rains and mudslides / floods have affected many roads within BC,” the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation said on Twitter.

The storm forced the closure of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which runs from Alberta to the Pacific Coast. The line can carry 300,000 barrels a day.

Work on the expected project development has been suspended, the contractor said.

Rescuers have been called to release people detained for hours in 80-100 vehicles and vehicles between two mudslides near the town of Agassiz, the state security minister, Mike Farnworth, told a news conference.

People may need to be airlifted, he said, although hurricanes could “resist these efforts”.

“Part of the mountain has just been torn apart,” said missing driver Paul Deol to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

Farnworth said there had been “multiple rain events” in the southwest and central part of the province, describing the situation as “severe.”

The weather is very difficult.

About 29km (18 km) to the east, photos posted on Facebook showed that parts of the road had been washed away near the town of Hope.

In the city of Abbotsford, outside Vancouver, authorities have ordered the evacuation of more than 100 homes in several areas threatened by floods and mudslides.

The waves are expected to hit the area later, causing power outages, officials said.

The storm is the second Pacific-weather disaster in just a few months. Toward the end of June, temperatures rose sharply killing more than 500 people and sparking a fire that destroyed one city.