This summer it was a heat dome causing devastation with extreme heat and forest fires in British Columbia, and now it’s what Environment Canada is calling an atmospheric river, with intense rain meaning flooding, mud and rock slides and highway closures.

The City of Merritt, with over 7,000 people was evacuated Monday morning. CTV Vancouver says the situation had been deteriorating in Merritt since the heavy downpours began over the weekend. There are highway closures all over the Lower Mainland and the Southern Interior. Canadian Forces Cormorant helicopters were utilized on Monday to rescue about 275 people trapped between two mudslides on Highway 7 in the Fraser Valley near the community of Agassiz.

An atmospheric river is described as a winding stream of intense water vapor, like a river in the sky. Environment Canada estimates 225 millimetres of rain have fallen on Hope since Saturday and 180 mm around Agassiz and Chilliwack.