Army on the ground in flood-hit western Canada

Military personnel were deployed to western Canada on Thursday, by land and air, to respond to major flooding and landslides that left one dead and several missing, while evacuees continue to number in the thousands.

"Members of the Royal Canadian Air Force rescued more than 300 motorists and nearly 30 pets using three of our helicopters," Defense Minister Anita said at a press conference on Thursday. Anand, noting that this is the twelfth time since the start of the pandemic that the Canadian military has responded to natural disasters.

A total of 120 soldiers are to rally Abbotsford, about 70 kilometers southeast of Vancouver, and up to 350 could be deployed to help. Minister Anand said that "thousands" of others are ready to intervene if necessary.

Thursday, the three military helicopters flew over southwestern British Columbia to assess the extent of the damage and determine where assistance is a priority. This emergency operation is supposed to last 30 days.

"With climate change, we must respond to more frequent and intense internal emergencies", leading to a "high demand" for help from the army, judged General Wayne Eyre, commander of the army

Torrential rains that battered the province on Sunday and Monday caused landslides, destroying roads and infrastructure. They drowned entire cities under water, forcing the British Columbia government to declare a state of emergency on Wednesday, as had already been the case in July due to gigantic forest fires.

The army on the ground in the Flood-Hit Western Canada

In just a few months, this region of the Canadian Pacific coast has suffered repeated natural disasters, including an episode of very intense heat at the end of June, a consequence of global warming according to experts.

On Thursday, rescuers were still searching for four people missing in the landslide-hit area of ​​Pemberton, northeast of Vancouver. This is where the body of a woman was found.

"The search continues in the area of ​​​​the Pemberton landslide. We are doing everything possible" in complicated conditions, explained to AFP Chris Manseau, spokesman for the federal police in British Columbia, in relief charge.

- More rain -

In Abbotsford, Mayor Henry Braun warned that his city was "far from out of this situation". "I'm not worried about the rain today. What worries me is next week. We expect between 80 and 100 mm" of precipitation, he said.

Nearly 600 of the city's 162,000 residents have been evacuated, adding to hundreds of others in the area in recent days.

In the streets of this largely deserted city, many people came to help the elderly or farmers in difficulty on Thursday, noted an AFP journalist.

Bekky Meier, a local farmer and mother of five, told AFP that she quickly took action to deal with the floods.

"I took my two youngest children to my parents' house on Monday, with suitcases and clothes for everyone. Then I made another trip with all the birth certificates, marriage certificates, photo albums, everything that is precious and that I am afraid to lose“, she confided, cap on her head.

She and her husband own 250 dairy cows and found themselves stuck at home unable to evacuate, once the roads were blocked. Friends then rescued them in a fishing boat.

“It was just scary to know that I was leaving our house and that we could not come back knowing that our cattle were in danger,” she said, tears in her eyes, adding that her husband was finally able to return to the farm.

In this flooded area, many farmers have lost their animals, drowned by the waters in recent days.

Another point of concern in the region, the port of Vancouver, the most important in Canada, explained that it suffered "significant disruptions to rail and road traffic" due to the damage caused by the floods.

"This new disaster will lead to delays of two, three or four weeks", analysis with AFP Jacques Roy, professor at HEC Montreal, who recalls that supply chains are already weakened by the pandemic.

On the other side of the border, images also showed the towns of Bellingham and Ferndale under water, in the state of Washington in the United States.