Ron Crawford climbs up a ladder onto a washed-out bridge after checking on stranded neighbours near McKay Section, N.S. on Sunday, July 23, 2023. A long procession of intense thunderstorms dumped record amounts of rain across a wide swath of Nova Scotia, causing flash flooding, road washouts and power outages. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…
Municipal offices in Halifax closed after weekend rains
Municipal offices across Halifax will be closed today as emergency crews work to repair damage caused by extensive rainfalls over the weekend. The Halifax Regional Municipality says many areas remain inaccessible, leading to safety concerns for local residents.
Rescue efforts are also continuing at a flooded Nova Scotia field where four people, including two children, were lost after rushing water swamped the vehicles they were travelling in.
Massive floods triggered by widespread rainstorms over the weekend dumped more than 200 millimetres of rain in the Hammonds Plains, Bedford and Lower Sackville areas.
Fast-growing fire near Kamloops prompts evacuation alerts and orders
A fast-moving wildfire has prompted officials in the Kamloops area to issue evacuation orders and alerts for nearby properties as the fire continues to grow in size and strength.
The Ross Moore Lake fire, first discovered Friday afternoon, is now about 13 kilometres south of the city and more than doubled in size overnight.
The BC Wildfire service has said dry, hot and windy conditions increased local fire activity, with a slight chance of rain set for Monday, but warmer and dry conditions forecast for much of the week.
Here’s what else we’re watching …
Calls to search abuse records for burial details
The special adviser tasked with helping Indigenous communities search for unmarked graves and records says documents detailing the abuses residential school survivors suffered should be re-examined.
Kimberly Murray says records from the compensation process survivors had to go through did not focus on the deaths or disappearances of children, now at the forefront for many communities.
The documents in question are set to be destroyed by Sept. 20-27, unless a survivor opts to obtain a copy for themselves and share it with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to archive.
Federal byelection being held in Calgary riding
A federal byelection is being held in Calgary today to fill a seat left vacant since its Conservative MP called it quits last year.
Late last year, Conservative Bob Benzen announced he would resign his seat in Calgary Heritage and return to private life.
He was elected to represent the area in 2017.
Most of Calgary Heritage used to belong to the Calgary Southwest riding — a seat held by former prime minister Stephen Harper until his retirement.
Veterans remember conflict during Korean War
Bill Black still gets letters and cards thanking him and other Canadian veterans for their service in the Korean War.
Quite a few of those notes from South Koreans have arrived lately at the Korea Veterans Association, where Black is president of an Ottawa chapter, as the 70th anniversary of the armistice in that conflict approaches.
More than 26,000 Canadian Armed Forces were deployed to assist South Korea after it was invaded by North Korea in 1950 and 7,000 more followed to help with peacekeeping after the armistice was signed on July 27, 1953.
Average cyber breach costs $6.94 million: Report
A new report says the average cost of a data breach for Canadian companies is $6.94 million.
The report by IBM says that’s down slightly from last year’s $7.05 million, but still the second-highest annual price tag since the company began tallying the financial burden of cybercrime.
The report says cybercriminals are most likely to go after companies and industries that have no tolerance for downtime, in the hope they’ll pay a ransom quickly to get their systems back up and running.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2023.
