Premier Gordon Campbell visited the disaster site midday Wednesday, extending his sympathy to the people affected by the early morning disaster that forced officials to evacuate more than 80 homes.
Campbell promised them that provincial funds would pay for any damage not covered by personal insurance, as well as the costs of temporary hotel accommodations and food.
He saluted the fast response of emergency crews, who brought in heavy equipment, sniffer dogs and a police helicopter equipped with an infrared scanner to try to find survivors.
A mudslide knocked these two houses down a North Vancouver embankment at about 3:30 a.m. local time Wednesday. (CP photo)
"I think our emergency response teams have done a very good job in this particular situation," he said. "We owe a debt of thanks to them."
Some critics immediately blamed the slide on developers, saying homes shouldn't have been built on such a steep slope. But Campbell said the province isn't jumping to any conclusions, promising a full investigation.
At least 1 woman remains missing
Emergency workers originally thought three people were trapped in the rubble, but by midafternoon police said only one woman remains missing. Rescuers had feared her 13-year-old daughter was home, but it turned out the teenager was in California.
The woman's husband remains in critical condition in hospital after being plucked from the wreckage of his home, which was knocked off its foundation and hurled nearly 80 metres down a slope.
Two neighbours dug him out after hearing a cry for help.
- FROM JAN. 19, 2005: Hero to the rescue in North Van
Another woman who was trapped in the other home was rescued, uninjured, after calling for help on her cellphone.
The slide was triggered by four days of continuous rain in the province. Engineers warned the slope could collapse further.
Young family narrowly escapes
Adrian Thompson, who lives about 50 metres from where the slide occurred, said he was awakened by the sound of loud rumblings and snapping branches.
He said he spotted a young couple with their baby standing in the middle of the street. They told him the mudslide streamed right through their home.
"They said it picked up the bed and the bed was surfed across the room, and I guess picked him up, and he ended up lying next to her and they somehow crawled out of there."
Thompson said they were shaken up and suffered some scratches and bruises. He took them into his home for some medical treatment. They're now staying with another family.
70 homes evacuated
Residents of 70 other homes in the Riverside Drive area were awakened by police banging on their doors after the slide, and ordered out of their homes.
"We're just sort of half-stunned because you're in a dream-like state and sort of asleep," said one woman.
"Lights are flashing, and the RCMP fellow is standing there, and he said there was a danger that we might go down," said another woman.
"And you think, 'OK, is this for real? And what would you take?' You've got a few minutes. Let's get out of here," said another man.
There's no word on when they'll be allowed to go home. A seismologist has been called in to check the safety of the area.
Record rainfalls forecast
More than 200 millimetres of rain has pelted the province's south coast in the last 48 hours.
Environment Canada has warned that as much as 300 mm – twice the rain that would normally fall during the entire month of January – might pelt down over the next three days.
- FROM JAN. 18, 2005: Record rainfall expected for Lower Mainland
On Wednesday, the province helped 100 residents flee the area around Keremeos in B.C.'s Southern Interior after ice jams made a river overflow and flooded the only road in.
Roads have been closed by flooding across the Lower Mainland, while freezing rain and snow has closed many other roads and highways across the province.
Some communities, including Richmond, outside Vancouver, have handed out sandbags so people could build dikes around their homes.
Related
Video
- Rosa Marchitelli reports for CBC-TV (Runs: 1:42)
- CBC Alan Waterman reports from the scene in North Vancouver. (Runs: 5:56)
play: RealMedia »
play: RealVideo »
play: QuickTime »
play: RealMedia »
More Canada Headlines »
- Winnipeg couple sentenced for sex assaults on girls
- A Winnipeg man was sentenced Tuesday to seven more years in prison and his common-law wife to time served for sexually assaulting two girls, including a 12-year-old-relative.
- Rae says 'no appetite' for constitutional debate on Quebec
- Liberal leadership hopeful Bob Rae says he's doing all he can to strike down a motion about Quebec nationhood that has divided candidates in the race's final stretch.
- Maverick MP Turner resigns from Conservative party
- MP Garth Turner, recently booted from the Tory caucus, is resigning his Conservative membership, saying he's been told he won't be allowed to run for the party again.
- Transit systems get $37M to boost security
- Federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon announced $37 million in funding Tuesday to beef up security on public transit systems in Canada's biggest cities.
- Public's help needed in 40-year-old Ontario murders
- Police in Ontario unveiled models and photographs of two suspected murder victims from nearly 40 years ago that may have a link to attacks on men picked up in the 1960s in downtown Toronto's gay neighbourhood.
