Article Excerpt
ABBOTSFORD, British Columbia, Nov 18 (Reuters) – Emergency crews were still trying to reach 18,000 people stranded on Thursday after floods and mudslides destroyed roads, houses and bridges in British Columbia in what could be the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history.
Receding floodwaters helped rescue efforts, but the downpour blocked off entire towns in the Pacific Coast province and cut access to the country’s largest port in Vancouver, disrupting already strained global supply chains.
Premier John Horgan declared a state of emergency and said the death toll would rise from the one confirmed fatality. Police say four more people are missing.
Many of the affected towns are in mountainous areas to the east and northeast of Vancouver with limited access.
Analysis
A lot of my analysis on other articles focus on the struggle to transport severely injured patients to get the care they deserve, and how many seem to only get care when it’s too late. This is an unornate case where due to the geographical condition of the situation not only prohibits the injured from moving to get help, but also renders the field medics with very little in ways of transporting the injured through extreme changes in terrain. I think this provides even further evidence that the reason for some of that pre-hospital wait time, especially for those in more precarious situations, are because those individuals are in a place that is extremely difficult to navigate out of.
