Merritt residents shared pictures and videos for Monday morning when the streets flooded with feet of water. Another one was of a car floating down Coldstream Avenue showing the havoc created by floods.
The severe storm that bombarded British Columbia pressured heaps of humans to evacuate their houses on Monday, along with the entire Merritt community.
Some houses in the Nicola Valley community, located east of Lytton, have been evacuated in a single day as unrelenting rain caused flooding situations in the province, mudslides, rockslides and significant highway closures among the Lower Mainland and Southern Interior.
The City of Abbotsford declared a state of local emergency Monday because of flooding, which caused evacuations in two city regions and a prime highway closure predicted to continue through the night.
Merritt officers declared the extended city-wide evacuation order quickly after 10 a.m., urging the community’s about 7,100 residents to take shelter with family or friends some other place in the province.
“Merritt is and will remain strong,” Mayor Linda Brown said in a statement.
Emergency service centres in Kamloops or Kelowna were addressed for those with nowhere to move as an emergency offering. Additionally, Merritt residents with no connections were informed to visit Kamloops if their domestic address is even-numbered and Kelowna if their address is odd-numbered.
On Vancouver Island, numerous regions below the Nanaimo Regional District have been evacuated as well, along with parts of Qualicum Beach and Parksville.
Regional officials issued a warning in a news release, “Flooding is occurring on both the Englishman and Nanaimo Rivers, and water levels are expected to continue to rise”. “Stay away from river and stream banks as fast-moving water conditions are very dangerous.”
Source: CTV News
