FLOODING NEAR VANCOUVER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 45, 3 December 1949, Page 5

FLOODING NEAR VANCOUVER

BRIDGES SWEPT AWAY

VANCOUVER, Dec. 1

Floods threatened to isolate Vancouver to-night after a storm that swept across southern British Columbia, forcing scores of families to evacuate their homes.- The situation is described as critical in Vancouver. The storm, which is the second in five days, wrecked bridges and flooded rivers. Army emergency squads are helping-more than 1000 volunteer workers in a battle against the flooding Capilano and Seymour rivers. The police in West and North Vancouver said the flood situation was worse than it was last week-end, when 24 people were killed and millions of dollars worth of damage done to comunications, railways and farmlands. Racing flood waters to-day swept away a 100-foot emergency Bailey bridge erected across the Capilano river only five minutes after the Army had stopped traffic from crossing it. The collapse of the bridge, set up after the original span was smashed by last week-end’s storm, isolated West Vancouver, a city of 13.000 residents, from Vancouver proper. The wash-out of a second bridge is reported on Vancouver Island at Cowichan Lake; where the bridge across the creek was destroyed only hours after it had been rebuilt. The original bridge was also swept away in last week-end’s storm. Families are being evacuated tonight from the Seymour, river area in North Vancouver, and scores of other families are preparing to evacuate along the bank of the Capilano river.