More than 35,000 people have had to leave their homes in western Canada due to the wave of forest fires that threaten several cities in the west and north of the country, authorities estimated.
The seriousness of the situation in the country, where around 1,052 forest fires are active, led Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to convene the crisis cabinet for the second time in 48 hours, the Efe news agency underlines.
The area hardest hit by the fires is central British Columbia, with the cities of West Kelowna and Kelowna, which have a combined population of 160,000, threatened.
According to the Premier of the Western Province of British Columbia, David Eby, more than 35,000 people have already had to be evicted from their homes and another 30,000 have been warned that at any moment they may have to do the same.
The high number of displaced people forced the authorities to ban tourism on Saturday in the areas most affected by the fires, in order to free up space in hotels to accommodate people.
Yellowknife has become a virtual ghost town since most of its 20,000 residents began fleeing following an evacuation order issued Wednesday night, authorities said.
For days, long caravans of cars blocked the main highway, and those who could not make it to the highway queued up to catch emergency flights out of the city.
Some 2,600 people remained in the city, including emergency teams, firefighters, public service workers and police, as well as some residents who refuse to leave, according to the Associated Press (AP) news agency.
Source: TSF
