Ottawa: Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes due to a week of unusually hot weather in western Canada, where wildfires are raging in some areas of Alberta and flooding is being caused by rapid snowmelt in British Columbia's interior.
As 78 fires raged in Alberta by Friday, more than 13,000 people were required to evacuate. The Little Red River Cree Nation's territory, which is made up of three communities in the province's north, was among the worst-hit areas. There, the 1,458-hectare (3609-acre) Fox Lake fire destroyed 20 homes as well as the police station.
A late Thursday night order to evacuate the entire 7,000-person population of Drayton Valley, 140 km (87 miles) west of the provincial capital Edmonton, was also issued.
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Oil-gathering pipeline operator Pembina Pipeline Corp. stated that it has activated incident management and emergency response procedures and is "evaluating any current or anticipated operational impacts." The effects on oil and gas producers were not mentioned.
According to Christie Tucker, the information unit manager for Alberta Wildfire, there have been 348 wildfires in Alberta this year, resulting in the burning of more than 25,000 hectares.
At a press conference, Tucker said, "This is significantly more wildfire activity for this time of year than we have seen any time in the recent past," adding that fires were predicted to get worse on Friday.
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"The weather is going to get hotter, windier, and we expect some extreme wildfire behaviour. Firefighters are prepared for what could be a very difficult day today, she said.
In British Columbia, rivers overflowed their banks, destroying homes and necessitating the closure of numerous highways in interior communities like Cache Creek and Grand Forks.
Western Canada had been experiencing a cold spring up until last week. However, the sudden onset of unseasonably high temperatures, which are now 10-15 C above average for early May in some locations, is causing both fires and flooding.
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The British Columbian government warned residents to brace themselves for additional flooding over the weekend due to the expected heavy rain. "Warm temperatures in the Interior have accelerated snowmelt and caused increased pressure on rivers and creeks," the Ministry of Emergency Management stated in a statement. The likelihood of flooding is expected to increase as rain and thundershowers are predicted for this Friday, May 5, and Saturday, May 6.