With spring heat reaching its peak, thousands of people are forced to evacuate their homes in western Canada as wildfires devastate parts of Alberta on Friday. The wildfires are making the snow melt raising alarms of flooding across interior British Columbia including Cache Creek and Grand Forks.
As wildfires intensifies and ravages through, over 13,000 people residing in Alberta were placed under evacuation orders. Reportedly, Little Red River Cree Nation, in northern Alberta is the worst-hit area. Including a police station, the fires destroyed over 20 homes.
Drayton Valley, 140km west of the provincial capital Edmonton was also ordered to evacuate on Thursday night.
This year alone there have been 348 wildfires and over 25,000 hectares of land was burned, said Christie Tucker, an information unit manager for Alberta Wildfire, reported Reuters.
"This is significantly more wildfire activity for this time of year than we have seen any time in the recent past," said Tucker in a press conference.
"It's getting to get hotter, it's going to get windier and we are expecting some extreme wildfire behaviour. Firefighters are at the ready today for what could be an extremely challenging day," she added.
Due to high risks of floods, highways in the interiors of British Columbia were closed. Adding to further woes, heavy rain has been predicted in British Columbia and the authorities have urged the communities to be prepared for more flooding.
"Warm temperatures in the Interior have accelerated snowmelt and caused increased pressure on rivers and creeks," the Ministry of Emergency Management said in a statement.