OTTAWA, July 22 (Reuters) - The heaviest rains in more than 40 years badly damaged a major city in Canada's Atlantic region on Saturday, prompting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to offer help dealing with what he called a very worrying situation.
The storm, which started on Friday, had dumped more than 20 cm (8 inches) on parts of the eastern province of Nova Scotia by 8 a.m. local time (1100 GMT) on Saturday.
"There is significant damage to roads and infrastructure. Conditions are not safe for vehicles and pedestrians at this time," tweeted the regional municipality in the port of Halifax, the province's largest city.
Environment Canada is predicting torrential rain in the east of the province, continuing into Sunday. At one point, more than 70,000 people were without power.
"I am very concerned about the flooding in Nova Scotia. People have seen their homes damaged, people have seen their safety at risk," Trudeau told reporters in Toronto.
"We will be there for them while they're going through this but also through the difficult days and weeks to come."
Pictures posted on social media from Halifax showed abandoned cars almost covered with flood waters and rescue workers using boats to save people.
"It has been a terrible night for our community," tweeted Halifax Mayor Mike Savage.
Canadian Broadcasting Corp meteorologist Ryan Snoddon said the Halifax rains were the heaviest since a hurricane hit the city in 1971.
The flooding was the latest weather-related calamity to pound Canada this year. Wildfires
have already burned a record number of hectares, sending clouds of smoke into the United States. Earlier this month,
heavy rains caused floods in several eastern U.S. states.
Early on Saturday, authorities in northern Nova Scotia ordered residents to evacuate amid fears a dam near the St. Croix River system could breach.
But local mayor Abraham Zebian later said the danger had been averted.
"Thankfully it is under control. They relieved some water from that dam," he told the CBC.
Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Richard Chang