Two people are dead, and one more is presumed dead after an atmospheric river brought heavy rainfall, flooding and mudslides to B.C. over the weekend.
On Monday, police said a woman who was missing after her home was washed away in a mudslide in Coquitlam, B.C., on Saturday has been found dead.
Coquitlam RCMP said a search and rescue crew found the body of the 57-year-old woman on Sunday evening.
She has been identified as Coquitlam elementary school teacher Sonya McIntyre.
“This is a deeply tragic outcome and our thoughts are with the victim’s family and friends,” Cpl. Alexa Hodgins said in a statement Monday.
Police said they were called to a slide along Quarry Road, on the southern edge of Pinecone Burke Provincial Park, at about 12:30 p.m. PT Saturday. Officers said they found the slide had rendered the road impassable and cut off several residents.
Coquitlam Fire Chief Scott Young told CBC News on Saturday that the slide knocked one home completely off its foundation.
Canada Task Force 1 — a national Heavy Urban Search and Rescue Team — joined Coquitlam Fire and Rescue in the search for the resident.
As of about 11 a.m. PT Monday, police said Quarry Road remains closed between Calgary Drive and MacIntyre Road. First responders are in contact with the residents cut off by the slide, police say.
RCMP say they have notified the family of the victim, but would not provide more details about the slide and its “deeply tragic” outcome.
She was later identified as local elementary school teacher Sonya McIntyre.
The slide was triggered by torrential rainfall that swept across the Lower Mainland this weekend.
Gord Howard, director of the North Shore Emergency Operations Centre in B.C., says the rain that fell on Vancouver and area came in such a short period of time it ‘overwhelmed’ a lot of systems designed to clear water over a longer period of time.
1 dead, 1 missing on Vancouver Island
Heavy rain has also had a tragic impact on Vancouver Island.
On Monday, RCMP in Port Alberni said one person is dead and the second presumed dead following weekend flooding near Bamfield, about 200 kilometres by road northwest of Victoria.
They say the vehicle of one of the missing was found “fully submerged” in the Sarita River on Saturday, with the driver found dead nearby.
The second vehicle was also found in the river and the driver is presumed dead inside.
Huu-ay-aht First Nation Chief Councillor and Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District chair John Jack told CBC News it is believed both drivers were residents of Bamfield, a community of about 200 people that is in the midst of Huu-ay-aht Nations land and Pacific Rim National Park. He said both were well-known in the community.
RCMP say they are waiting for an opportunity to recover the vehicle, but that work has been delayed due to ongoing flood risks.
Officials are warning people to stay away from the Sarita River due to fast-flowing water and the risk of floods, and reminding drivers not to attempt to cross flooded roadways.
Warnings still in place
Environment Canada figures show Coquitlam was among the hardest hit by the rain, receiving 256 millimetres between Friday and Sunday night.
The agency said daily rainfall records were set across the Lower Mainland, including in West Vancouver, which received about 190 millimetres of rain.
On Vancouver Island, Environment Canada said the Kennedy Lake area north of Ucluelet has had nearly 320 millimetres of rain since Friday, while Tofino saw 218 millimetres.
The rainfall warnings and flood advisories that had spanned the South Coast over the weekend have been lifted, but communities are still mopping up.
In the District of North Vancouver, a state of local emergency remains in effect, and six homes are on evacuation order in the Deep Cove neighbourhood.
District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services Chief Mike Danks told CBC News the homes were initially evacuated because firefighters were concerned a nearby retaining wall might fail under flooding.
He said crews remained on scene on Monday, monitoring the wall.
