Residents brace for torrential rains in already flooded western Canada

Summer wildfires wiped out vegetation that could have slowed the water, flooding the vulnerable small communities

Communities in western Canada are bracing for more damage as torrential rain is forecasted next week in areas already devastated by heavy flooding. Hundreds of troops have been deployed to Canada’s westernmost province to help residents stranded by landslides, struggling to find food among bare grocery store shelves.

“I am not concerned about today’s rain. What I’m concerned about is next week, and what’s coming,” Abbotsford mayor Henry Braun told reporters Thursday morning as officials kept close watch over a pumping station. If the pumps failed, Braun warned, the results would be “catastrophic” for a community already grappling with thousands of drowned farm animals and a bill that could reach $1bn to rebuild the city.

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from World news | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3nw6f0G