Four people, including two children, are missing in Nova Scotia floods

Streets and houses are flooded, displaced by waves, roads cut off… Considerable damage has been caused by the rains that have affected Nova Scotia, Canada since the evening of Friday, July 21. Four people, including two children, went missing in this eastern Canadian province on Saturday, police said.

The two children were passengers in a submerged vehicle, and the three occupants fled, according to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) spokesperson. A search for them took place.

The spokesperson added that two others have gone missing under similar circumstances. Two occupants of this second car were rescued. Nova Scotia was already hit hard by the violent fires that ravaged the forests of many Canadian provinces in late May.

The province’s premier, Tim Houston, highlighted during a press conference that Nova Scotia had received 250 mm of rain in less than 24 hours, which is the equivalent of three months of rainfall. Mr. Houston declared a state of emergency in many parts of the county and called on residents not to join the search for the missing. “Conditions are dangerous”. He predicted that it would take several days for the water to recede.

Avenues turned into streams

Images from television or social networks showed roads or paths turned into torrents and sometimes real rivers and many abandoned cars.

Residents of Windsor, sixty kilometers northwest of the provincial capital Halifax, were ordered to evacuate overnight from Friday to Saturday because of the threat of a dam failure. But the valves of work may be opened on Saturday morning to ease the pressure. Being in a situation “in control” According to Windsor Mayor Abraham Sebian, the evacuation order has been lifted.

In a mid-afternoon update, Environment Canada’s Meteorological Services announced that significant rain is expected in the eastern part of the province, particularly in the Cape Breton region, until the end of the day.

Environment Canada refers to rain as “Tropical nature has had a significant impact on some parts of the province.” and rainfall are recorded “25 mm per hour in some rain-affected areas..

Residents of the province have been advised to stay at home as many roads remain impassable. About 70,000 customers of electricity supplier Nova Scotia Power were without power Saturday morning, but by late afternoon the number had dropped to 6,000.