Flooding covered several vehicles and Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokeswoman Cindy Bayers said the whereabouts of two adults and two children were unknown Saturday morning after two such incidents in West Hants, north of Halifax.
The two children disappeared when the vehicle they were traveling in submerged, Bayers said, noting that three other occupants escaped safely.
Two other people, a young man and a woman, according to Bayers, are still missing after the waters covered another vehicle. Two more people from that vehicle were rescued and police are intensively searching for the missing, she added.
Torrential rains, which began Friday afternoon across the Halifax region, dumped up to 200mm of water in some areas. Rainfall averages between 90 and 100 millimeters in July in the port city.
Based on radar calculations and unofficial observations, the Environment Canada agency said Saturday that in some areas rainfall exceeded 300 millimeters in 24 hours.
Radar maps show the heaviest downpours affected from the southwestern beach in the province to somewhere north of Halifax. Extensive flooding was also reported in Lunenbeg County, west of the Halifax region.
On Friday night, floodwaters rose so fast in the Bedford area that volunteers with the Halifax Search and Rescue unit were coming out with small boats to rescue people from flooded homes.
In the Hammonds Plain area, northwest of the city, flooding destroyed driveways and the shoulders of many roads. The area is the same where 151 homes and businesses were destroyed by a forest fire that started on May 28 and forced the eviction of 16,000 residents.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
