Everyone in Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, has been ordered to evacuate by noon tomorrow. That's 20,000 people — half the population of the territories.
That's because there are 236 wildfires currently burning in the NWT, and one fire could reach Yellowknife this weekend if it doesn't rain soon. Most evacuees are leaving by car on the one highway in and out of the city. Commercial airliners and the Royal Canadian Air Force are flying others out to Calgary. The few who are sheltering in place are cutting down trees around their homes to create fire breaks. Meanwhile, the right-wing leader of the Canadian Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, decided to make a speech at a PEI gas station yesterday.
If you've been as appalled by the stories out of Maui these last few days, you're probably tempted to say that at least Yellowknife got enough warning to get out. True. But can the entire world talk about climate change now? Fires everywhere, record heat on land and in the seas, and now four tropical systems marching across the southern Atlantic. What's it going to take, Conservatives and Republicans? We cats HISS.
P.S. Despite the many fire emergencies, Meta is still blocking Canadian news, so NWT evacuees and their loved ones can't communicate on the Face Thing. In case you thought Elon Musk was the worst social media billionaire, guess again. We cats HISS and dump our dirty litter box on Mark Zuckerberg's head.
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