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A6 WORLD NEWS
Monday 24 July 2023

4 missing after record-breaking downpours along Canada's

Atlantic coast cause flooding

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) under an immobile dome
— Four people are missing of humidity — a rare event
after intense thunderstorms so close to the coast.
dumped record amounts It was only last fall that
of rain across a wide swath post-tropical storm Fiona
of Canada's Atlantic-coast descended on the Atlantic
province of Nova Scotia region, killing three people,
over the past two days, flattening scores of homes
causing flash flooding, and knocking out power to
road washouts and power more than 600,000 homes
outages. and businesses. Fiona was
The floods submerged mul- the most costly weather
tiple vehicles, and Royal event in the region's history,
Canadian Mounted Police causing more than 800 mil-
spokeswoman Cindy Bay- lion Canadian dollars ($604
ers said two such incidents million) in insured damage.
in West Hants north of Hali- "It's pretty obvious that the
fax have left two adults and climate is changing — from
two children unaccounted Fiona last year to the wild-
for as of Saturday morning. fires in the spring and now
The two children went miss- flooding in the summer,"
ing after the vehicle they Halifax Mayor Mike Savage
were travelling in got stuck said. "We're getting storms
underwater, Bayers said, Buildings are seen in floodwater following a major rain event in Halifax on Saturday, July 22, 2023. that used to be considered
noting the three other oc- Associated Press one-in-50-year events ...
cupants were able to es- pretty regularly," he added.
cape safely. dumping more than 200 extending along the prov- In the Hammonds Plains While the official statistics
Two other individuals, who millimeters of rain in some ince's southwestern shore area, northwest of the city, have yet to be recorded, it's
Bayers described as a areas. The port city typi- to a point north of Halifax. flooding washed out drive- believed the Halifax region
youth and a man, remain cally receives about 90-100 Widespread flooding has ways and the shoulders of has not seen this level of
unaccounted for following mm of rain during an aver- also been reported in many roads. rainfall since Aug. 16, 1971,
a separate vehicle submer- age July. Lunenberg County, which That's the same area where when hurricane Beth made
sion. Two other people in Based on radar estimates is west of the Halifax region. where 151 homes and busi- landfall near the eastern
that vehicle were rescued, and unofficial observa- On Friday night, water lev- nesses were destroyed by tip of mainland Nova Sco-
she said, adding police are tions, Environment Cana- els rose so fast in the Bed- a wildfire that started on tia and then roared over
actively searching for all da said on Saturday that ford area that volunteers May 28, forcing evacua- Cape Breton. At that time,
four missing people. some areas may have re- with Halifax Search and tions that affected 16,000 almost 250 mm of rain fell
Torrential downpours start- ceived more than 300 mm Rescue were using small residents. And for much of on the Halifax area, caus-
ed on Friday afternoon in 24 hours. Radar maps boats to rescue people the past week, the Halifax ing widespread flooding
across the Halifax region, show the heaviest rainfall from inundated homes. area has been sweltering and damage.q

2,000 people evacuated as a wildfire rages on the Greek island of Rhodes

ed by sea, fire department fire was confined to the is- long. The blaze in Rhodes
spokesman Yannis Artopios land's mountainous center, was just one, the most dan-
said Saturday evening. He but aided by winds, very gerous, of several active
added that the hotels and high temperatures and dry across Greece, Artopios
rented homes evacuated conditions, it spread Satur- said. The fire northwest of
"represent less than 10% of day toward the coast on Athens and one near Spar-
the island's tourist accom- the island's central-eastern ta were subsiding, he said,
modations." He added that side. Local media reported although the conditions,
all visitors had been evacu- the fires had reached three including temperatures set
ated without incident. hotels, whose clients had to reach 45 C (113 F) on
Three coast guard vessels, already been evacuated. Sunday and low humid-
an army lifeboat, a special Artopios said that more ity (below 15%), mean that
forces inflatable craft and than 200 firefighters and 40 the danger isn't over and
30 private sailboats helped fire engines were operating more wildfires might break
with the evacuation. on the ground, assisted by out.The fire department
Private passenger shipping three planes and five heli- has designated almost the
company Blue Star has of- copters. The force includes whole eastern part of the
Clouds of smoke from a forest fire rise to the sky on the island of fered one of its ships to ac- 31 firefighters from Slovakia, mainland, plus the islands
Rhodes, Greece, Saturday, July 22, 2023. commodate some of the with five fire engines. of Evia and Rhodes as
Associated Press evacuees, Artopios said. The main front of the fire well as large swaths of the
By DEMETRIS NELLAS authorities to order an "Care has been taken to is a triangle, with two of its southwest, as Category 5,
Associated Press evacuation of four loca- accommodate all those points near the sea and the highest for the risk of fire
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A tions, including two seaside that needed to be taken one in the mountains. On outbreaks Sunday. A further
large wildfire burning on resorts. away from the stricken ar- maps, each side of the tri- chunk of Greece has been
the Greek island of Rhodes About 2,000 people, includ- eas," he added. angle appears more than designated Category 4,
for a fifth day has forced ing tourists, were evacuat- In previous days, the wild- 10 kilometers (six miles) very high risk. q