After registering record temperatures and extreme heat waves that left hundreds of people dead, the Canadian province of British Columbia was hit in recent days by heavy rains that led to flooding and led authorities to decree, on Wednesday (17), the state of emergency for two weeks.
So far, the death of a woman in a landslide has been confirmed, but the local government has said that more deaths are expected to be reported in the coming days. Traditionally agricultural, the province lost thousands of animals in the floods, according to local Agriculture Minister Lana Popham, who described the extreme event as an “agricultural disaster”.
In announcing the state of emergency, the local government said that around 17,700 people were evacuated due to the consequences of the floods. There are also concerns about possible shortages and higher prices in the coming weeks, due to the impact felt by supply chains, already affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
British Columbia Prime Minister (a position similar to that of governor), John Horgan, said the rains had devastated entire communities and highlighted the increased occurrence of extreme weather events in the province. “These events are increasing in frequency due to the effects of man-made climate change.”
The heavy rains in the region have been caused by an atmospheric river, a narrow corridor of concentrated moisture. In the British newspaper The Guardian, scientist Jeff Masters described the phenomenon as “a river in the sky that acts as a pipe carrying large amounts of water vapor”.
Inundation resulting from rainfall, however, originates in local management of forests and recent forest fires. Experts have warned that clear cutting of wood alters the soil’s ability to retain rainwater. Without trees, heavy rains carry large amounts of sediment into streams, causing them to overflow quickly.
“Over the last few days, I’ve been looking at areas that have been particularly affected and this coincides with some of the communities that have been most exploited,” said Peter Wood, author of a recent report on the relationship between forest management and climate impacts in British Columbia, to the Guardian.
The absence of forest cover also increases the risk of landslides, something intensified by summer forest fires. “The burning of many trees, grass and bushes leaves fewer living things to intercept the water, which simply flows straight downhill,” explained ranger Thomas Martin.
The government of Canada mobilized the army to help rescue the blocked population. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, recently re-elected to the position, described the floods as “historic and terrible”. He is in the US capital, Washington, for a meeting with US President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Just over a month ago, the North American country had general elections that were dominated by the climate emergency. Successive opinion polls showed that the main concern of residents taken into account when voting was the climate crisis.
The predominance of the theme was not without reason: this year Canada had one of the hottest summers in its history, with extreme heat waves that left hundreds of people dead. In July, the small town of Lytton, British Columbia, recorded the country’s history record temperature: 49.6°C.
Updated data from the province show that in fiscal year 2021 alone—starting on April 1—1,634 were registered in the territory, destroying a total area of ​​870,000 hectares.
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