Image copyright REUTERS Image caption Cars on roads in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, as heavy rain brought flooding to the city’s low-lying downtown area
Farmers in Manitoba in Canada’s North have saved stranded cows as a flood washed away roads and highways.
Northwest of Winnipeg, several farmers braced for the flood but the waters escalated as they bore down on Manitoba’s capital city.
They decided to take some cows to higher ground, where two trucks loaded with 40 animals arrived on Monday.
Agriculture officials said that more than 400 cows had had to be saved, but others were being moved to graze on higher ground.
A farmer told the National Post that he had also lost several calves, but it was “terrific” to see the animals so safe.
Water pouring over Whitefish River on the outskirts of Winnipeg
Many roads were shut down and commuters had to be evacuated from the city centre as roads collapsed into the water, some going up to 100m (328ft) deep.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Floodwaters engulf Whitefish River
“This is an historic flood,” Glen Stachnik, Manitoba’s minister of agriculture, told Reuters news agency.
The rescue is likely to encourage farmers in Manitoba to abandon traditional grazing areas for higher ground, he said.