Picture of the Week: An unusually heavy ‘atmospheric river’ drowned cars like this and follows record-breaking wildfires earlier this year. The west coast can’t take a break.
A car lies submerged in a ditch on a flooded stretch of road after storms hit the western Canadian province of British Columbia, causing landslides and flooding, closing roads, in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada, on November 15, 2021 (Jennifer Gauthier / Reuters).
The sun couldn’t have been a more welcome sight for British Columbia residents as it broke through gray clouds Tuesday morning after historically heavy rains that broke 24-hour records in Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Hope. Thousands of people in the province spent the weekend waiting for the flood to end. The rain caused landslides, catch motorists on the roads; forced the 7,000 residents of Merritt to evacuate after flood the city’s water treatment plant; and drowned cars, like the one above, on roads, highways, and driveways. The reason, experts say, is an unusually heavy “atmospheric river,” typically carrying water vapor north from mid-latitudes to the Arctic. While many believe that flooding has something to do with climate change – a warmer atmosphere carries more water, by logic – it is still too early to say conclusively. But if record flooding continues after record wildfires in the coming years, British Columbia people who ignore or deny the reality of climate change may find it increasingly difficult to do so.
Reference-www.macleans.ca