Rains to subside as B.C. assesses damage from floods, mudslides

Torrential rain over the weekend and into Monday left towns flooded and highways closed in B.C., but rains are likely to subside on Tuesday.

An "atmospheric river" brought heavy downpours for most of southern B.C., leading to the evacuation of the entire town of Merritt, as well as further evacuations in the Fraser Valley, Interior and Vancouver Island.

The Abbotsford School District cancelled all classes on Tuesday as parts of the city remain under evacuation order due to flooding.

Highways throughout the province were also closed due to mudslides and debris flows, with parts of the Coquihalla and Trans-Canada highways washing away in surging rivers. Hundreds of motorists were trapped on the roads, with many being rescued by helicopter on Monday. 

PHOTOS | Scenes of the flooding and mudslides in southern B.C.:

Some travellers were forced to spend a second night in their vehicles on Monday due to road closures.

Andrew Clark, a musician from Ladysmith, had been in Kelowna for the weekend to play concerts, but on the way home on Sunday was stuck near Hope with two colleagues.

He said they are part of a group of people forced to sleep in their vehicles and crowd into local restaurants and gas stations for food and services.

"Everyone's been very good-humoured," he said. "Everyone knows that we are in the same boat, so that's all quite good, but I think there's a sort of general air of disappointment that we can't find out more information about what's happening down the road.

"People are a little bit worried about how many nights we might be staying here."

There is no clear timeline for when the province's highway network will be functional again, or when evacuation orders will be lifted for those away from their homes.

However, Tuesday will see the end of the weather system bringing heavy rain to the province, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Kenneth Chan.

"On Thursday, perhaps, we'll have another weather system coming," he said.

"But this one should be much weaker and also just mostly to the Pacific Northwest, Washington state. So we won't be affected by that as much."