Trudeau tours flood-hit western Canada

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seen during his visit to Abbottsford, after rainstorms lashed the western Canadian province of British Columbia.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited on Friday areas of Canada’s Pacific coast hit by catastrophic floods, warning of further climate mayhem as the region braces for more torrential rains. “This will not be the last crisis Canadians go through,” he told a joint news conference with British Columbia’s premier, John Horgan. “Extreme weather events are going to become more frequent,” he said, adding: “We need to address the long term climate change problems”, including by cutting CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions and making infrastructure more resilient. Heavy rains hit British Columbia in mid-November, causing flooding and mudslides that damaged or destroyed roads and bridges, forced thousands to evacuate their homes and left at least four dead and one missing. This followed record-high temperatures over the summer that killed more than 500 people in the province, as well as wildfires that destroyed a town. “We’re facing the brunt of climate change, not in the future, but right now,” Horgan said. “Our farms have been flooded, our roads have been washed away and our communities are underwater, and more rain is coming.” On Friday Horgan’s government ordered sections of three major highways closed ahead of two more major rain storms expected over the coming days. Environment Canada has forecast up to 120mm (4.7”) of rain over the weekend, warning it could lead to flash floods and washouts. A second storm is expected to slam the province tomorrow. Earlier, Trudeau, with a local mayor, surveyed aerial images of the flooded Sumas Prairie east of Vancouver, and met with soldiers sandbagging as well as residents affected by the floods. “I saw the extent of the pools of water, the challenges of so many farms, so many communities impacted,” the prime minister said, and met people “fighting for their homes”.