4 missing in British Columbia landslide after record rainfall
By Michael Martinez and Elwyn Lopez, CNN
13 July 2012 (CNN) – Canadian rescuers facing risks searched off and on Friday for people missing after a landslide in a remote mountainous area of British Columbia, an emergency official said. The search was suspended at times because the disaster site was deemed unstable, emergency officials said. “It’s an ongoing situation,” Bill Macpherson of the Regional District of Central Kootenay Emergency Operations Center told CNN. Four people remained unaccounted for Friday for after three homes were destroyed and several others damaged in Johnsons Landing in the Kootenays, Macpherson said. […] Two search-and-rescue teams and a number of Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were on the scene, along with geotechnical workers and a landslide expert, Macpherson said. The ground gave way just before noon Thursday in Johnsons Landing. […] The area has been drenched by a record amount of rain during the past month, but it was not clear whether that was a factor, Macpherson said. Geotechnical staff were trying to determine the landslide’s cause.
