An abandoned car in a mall parking lot is seen in floodwater following a major rain event in Halifax on Saturday, July 22, 2023. Searchers are continuing to pump water from a flooded field in Nova Scotia that is the focus of an extensive search for four people, including two children, who went missing in a torrent of water Saturday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
HALIFAX – Workers are continuing to pump water from a flooded field in Nova Scotia that is the focus of a search for four people, including two children, who went missing in a torrent of water Saturday.
Abraham Zebian, mayor of West Hants Regional Municipality, was at the site earlier today and says search teams are pumping more than 94,000 litres of water a minute from the field.
Zebian says the work is lowering water levels so ground search and rescue teams can have easier access to the area.
On Saturday evening, an RCMP dive team recovered an unoccupied pickup truck in over two metres of water and said it was believed to be the vehicle the children were travelling in. Police said earlier the children were with three other people who managed to escape.
Searchers are looking in the same area for a second vehicle in which a youth and a man who are unaccounted for were travelling.
Heavy rain, which began Friday, dumped between 200 and 250 millimetres along Nova Scotia’s South Shore, across the Halifax area and into central and western parts of the province.
While the floodwaters had largely receded by Sunday, they left behind a network of damaged and washed out roads and bridges in the province.
Provincial officials also confirmed damage to parts of the CN rail line that runs to the Port of Halifax.
Meanwhile, mail delivery by Canada Post is on hold in the province until there is a better evaluation of safe areas for delivery.
A provincewide state of emergency declared on Saturday will remain in effect until Aug. 5, and on Sunday federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair approved a request from the province for continued assistance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2023.
