VANCOUVER -- The cleanup may take weeks from a weekend storm that unleashed up to 140 millimetres of rain forcing evacuations and road closures in some areas of southern B.C.

The District of Kent and Cowichan Valley Regional District both declared local states of emergency as homes flooded and roads washed away.

Hundreds of people were stranded in the Hemlock Valley and at the Sasquatch Mountain Resort when about a kilometre of Hemlock Valley Road was swept away in a torrent of mud and debris.

The Transportation Ministry said it could take days to restore the road to single lane alternating traffic. 

As of Monday morning, a local state of emergency remained in effect in the Cowichan Valley Regional District.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2020.