State of emergency declared in Canada following deadly storms

As huge storms continue to batter parts of British Columbia, a Canadian minister says he has “no doubt” that the extreme weather event is linked to the changing climate

Thousands of people have been evacuated after a so-called “atmospheric river” was responsible for dumping the area’s monthly rainfall average in just 24 hours.

Mike Farnworth is the local minister of public safety and told reporters, he has “no doubt these are climate-related events”.

Scientists believe that increased sea surface temperatures warm the earth’s air and therefore drive the creation of hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons.

British Columbia also sweltered through a record heatwave in the summer period just months ago – which killed more than 500 people as wildfires ravaged the region.

All 7,000 residents of the town of Meritt, northeast of Vancouver have been ordered to flee as cars floated down icy flood waters.