Four are missing after severe flooding in Nova Scotia

Four people were missing on Saturday after severe flooding swept through Nova Scotia, Canada, forcing many residents to evacuate their homes while others had to be rescued by boat, officials said.

The four people were reported missing early Saturday morning in West Hants, about 50 miles northwest of Halifax, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.

Two were children between the ages of 2 and 12 who were in a vehicle that had been submerged in water, police said. Three other people who were in the car with them were able to escape, police said.

Separately, a teenager and another man went missing after a vehicle they were in flooded on a flooded road. Two others who traveled with them were rescued, police said.

The searches continue. Law enforcement agencies asked the public not to search for missing persons due to the dangerous conditions.

Several rescue teams were deployed throughout the province.

A volunteer group, Halifax Search and Rescue, was called around 7:30 p.m. Friday and worked until 3:30 a.m., then promptly started again after only a two-hour break, said Paul Service, a spokesperson for the group.

Members of the group searched for stranded motorists, used boats to help people leave their apartments and rescued about 20 people from the Bedford Place Mall in Bedford, north of Halifax, he said.

An evacuation order has been issued for the area around the 21-mile St. Croix River, which flows through Hants and Halifax counties. The Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office issued a warning at 3:33 a.m. local time said that: “Dam threatens to break.”

But officials later on Saturday said the dam was no longer in danger, That reports CBC News.

“Fortunately, it’s under control,” Abraham Zebian, mayor of West Hants Regional Municipality, said in an interview with CBC. “They pulled some water from that dam and most of the area has now been evacuated. People are safe, thank God. We have many comfort centers open and we are working through them.

No injuries had been reported as of Saturday afternoon, Cpl. Guillaume Tremblay, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, added that it had been a long day for officers rescuing people trapped on roads, bridges and campsites.

“It was an extremely busy night for officers working tirelessly with no visibility in the area,” he said.

The Halifax Regional Municipality on Saturday advised its residents to stay off the roads, noting that numerous roads had been washed away by flooding and many cars had been left on the highway.

The municipality estimated that about 150 people were displaced by the floods.

Flash flooding occurred across the municipality and periods of heavy rain were expected to continue into Sunday. officials said.

According to the country, there was a severe thunderstorm warning weather service. Meteorologists predicted rain until midnight.