‘It breaks my heart to see what’s going on’: Thousands evacuated as heavy rain hits parts of US and Canada
One person is dead, several people are missing and thousands have been evacuated following severe flooding in the northwest of the US and parts of Canada.
A storm has brought days of rain to western Washington and British Colombia causing flood damage described by officials as “severe”.
The storms, which started on Sunday, wrecked roads, forced an oil pipeline to close, shut Canada‘s two biggest railways and limited land access to Vancouver – the city with the country’s largest port.
Officials in the small city of Sumas, Washington, said on Facebook on Tuesday that hundreds of people had been evacuated and an estimated 75% of homes had water damage.
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Cattle are herded through Canada flood
Cows are left stranded before their rescue in Abbotsford, British Columbia
Southwest of the city, a 59-year-old man – identified by police on Tuesday as Jose Garcia – remained missing after his truck was swept into a flooded field.
Across the border, the body of a woman was recovered from a landslide near Lillooet, northeast of Vancouver, that was triggered by record rainfall.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police said at least two other people were reported missing.
A satellite image shows flooding in Fraser Valley, Canada on Monday
The Sumas River overflowed, overwhelming rescuers in Abbotsford, British Columbia, on Tuesday, where 1,100 homes were evacuated.
Community members struggled to rescue stranded cattle from a farm and used Jet Skis to help pull the animals to safety.
Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said that impassable roads were creating havoc as authorities tried to get people to evacuation sites.
Crew members from Royal Canadian Air Force 442 Squadron rescued some of more than 300 motorists stranded by mudslides on Sunday
“It breaks my heart to see what’s going on in our city,” he said.
The evacuees from Abbotsford and Sumas were among thousands who were forced from their homes.
Officials in the northern Washington city of Ferndale urged people in homes and businesses to evacuate in an area near the rising Nooksack River yesterday.
A truck is partially submerged on a flooded stretch of the Trans-Canada highway
A half-dozen bystanders near the town’s main street rescued a man who had mistakenly drove into floodwaters by pushing his floating car to higher ground.
Further people were airlifted by the US Coast Guard near the town of Forks, Washington.
The floodwater has caused havoc for roads and railway.
Rail services operated by Canadian Pacific Rail and the Canadian National Railway were both out of service at the towns of Hope and Chilliwack in the lower mainland Fraser Valley region, to the east of Vancouver, on Monday.
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Drone footage shows extent of US floods
Crews partially reopened the west coast’s main north-south road, Interstate 5, near Bellingham, Washington, on Monday following its complete closure because of mudslide debris.
Additionally, six railroad cars derailed in Sumas, cancelling services in that location until the water recedes.
At the height of the storm on Monday, more than 158,000 customers in western Washington had no electricity as wind speeds reached 60mph.
More than 31,000 people across the state remained without power on Tuesday.
US Coast Guard air crew rescue people from floodwaters near Forks, Washington
The rains were caused by an atmospheric river – a huge plume of moisture extending over the Pacific and into Washington and Oregon.
About 14cm (5.57in) of rain fell at Bellingham International Airport, Washington, from Saturday through to Monday. The normal monthly rain total is 13cm (5.2in) for November, according to National Weather Service data.
Some areas of Canada received 20cm (8in) of rain on Sunday, the amount that usually falls in a month.
It is the second major widespread flood event in the northwest of Washington state in less than two years, and climate change is fuelling more powerful and frequent severe weather, Whatcom County officials told the Bellingham Herald.
The National Weather Service had issued flood warnings for several rivers around western Washington.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
Read more from Sky News:
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
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