The bodies of two children found after the sudden flood in Nova Scotia, a young man remains missing

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Police have confirmed the recovery of the bodies of two children who had been missing since being swept away in floodwaters created by the weekend’s catastrophic rainfall, with searchers continuing to comb a flooded grass field for another youngster yet to be located.

Early Saturday morning, four people were reported missing after the truck and SUV they were traveling in suddenly plunged under three feet of water in the rural community of Brooklyn, 65 kilometers northwest of Halifax.

The RCMP announced on Monday that they had found one of them, a 52-year-old man, as well as unidentified human remains that had been pulled a considerable distance from the powerful tidal system of the Bay of Fundy.

Police said on Tuesday that the unidentified person was one of two children, and that the body of the second child was found within 45 meters of the dead adult.

“They were running away from their home … trying to get to a safe area,” Sgt. Rob Frizzell of RCMPPOINTEST hants told reporters. “That’s when they were hit with the storm wave as they were leaving and pushed out of the way into a field that was then quickly flooded with water.”

The extreme flooding began on Friday night and extended through Saturday, dumping up to 250 millimeters of rain on some parts of the province, destroying bridges, washing away at least 50 roads and a section of the CN Railway, causing extensive damage to homes.

Prime minister Tim Houston has declared a state of emergency for parts of the province for the second time in two months following wildfires in June. Experts say climate change has contributed to both events.

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On Tuesday, Search and rescue teams went through what police described as “a lake of water” in a hayfield field in search of the missing youth. The province broke dams and used high-flow industrial pumps to divert tens of thousands of liters per minute of water from the search area.

Three other adults who were with the children when the vehicles plunged, and were transported to hospital early on Saturday, have been released.

“They’re doing as well as they can be,” Sergeant Frizzell said.

At a news conference in the city of Indianapolis, Houston offered condolences to the families of the deceased victims.

“It is another incredibly sad day in what has now been a series of terrible days in this province,” he said. “We’ve shown that we can handle a lot – fires and hurricanes and another series of floods, but that really doesn’t compare.”

Meanwhile, some residents in Bedford whose homes were destroyed by extreme flooding piled mattresses, furniture and toys in the trash and onto dirt-covered grass on Tuesday, some still in shock at how fast and how high the Sackville River burst onto their quiet suburban street at the weekend.

Saba Alam and his wife, Nikki Esber, recalled a terrifying escape with their two children on Friday night as flood water suddenly rose four metres to their shared home on Union Street.

Water rose over the windows of their Nissan Pathfinder as Mr. Alam was driving the vehicle with two children-a young child and a 13-year-old child with special needs-strapped into their car seats in the back. At one end of their street, they saw emergency vehicles submerged in floodwaters. The police called for the family to return the car.

“It’s a miracle how we got out of here,” Ms. Esber said. “It keeps going through my head what happened, what could have happened.”

Their house, like many others on the street, has been destroyed. Ms Esber, who works from home for RBC, said she is too traumatised to ever think about rebuilding in the same area. The couple bought the house four years ago without knowing it was in a floodplain. The first floor is moistened with muddy water and polished with oil, which flows from the inverted home heating tanks of some homeowners.

Kelly Regan, provincial MP for Bedford Basin and Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition, said the roughly 40-year-old homes on low-lying land near the sackville River should never have been built, and governments should step up and buy back residents.

“This will continue to happen,” she said, referring to torrential rains in the area. “Do you think it will end here? With climate change, we must take steps to protect citizens from the worst of it.”

Reagan said the province also needs to come up with a better plan to evacuate people when floods hit. In Bedford, the Sackville River rose “fast and furious,” she said. People had no exit from the neighborhood until city staff removed the metal posts on a walk.

“People didn’t know if they had to evacuate or stay where they were, or drive or not drive,” she said. “I think of the people who lost their lives.”