Four people are missing after intense storms dumped record amounts of rain over the past two days across much of the province of Nova Scotia – on Canada’s Atlantic coast – causing flash floods, power outages and road washing.

The flooding covered several vehicles and Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokeswoman Cindy Bayers said the whereabouts of two adults and two children were unknown on Saturday morning after two such incidents in West Hants, Utah. north of Halifax.

Both children disappeared when the vehicle they were traveling in was submerged, Bayers said, noting that three other occupants escaped to safety.

Two other people, a young man and a woman, according to Bayers, are still missing after waters covered another vehicle. Two other people from that vehicle have been rescued and police are searching intensively for the missing, he added.

Torrential rains, which began Friday afternoon in the Halifax area, dumped up to 200mm of water in some areas. Average rainfall fluctuates between 90 and 100 millimeters in July in the port city.

Based on radar calculations and unofficial observations, the Environment Canada agency said on Saturday that in some areas precipitation exceeded 300 millimeters in 24 hours.

Radar maps show the heaviest torrential rains hit from the province’s southwest range to somewhere north of Halifax. Significant flooding was also reported in Lunenbeg County, west of the Halifax area.

On Friday evening, floodwaters rose so quickly in the Bedford area that volunteers from the Halifax Search and Rescue Unit came out with small boats to rescue people from flooded homes.

In the Hammonds Plain area, northwest of the city, flooding destroyed the driveways and shoulders of many roads. The area is the same where 151 homes and businesses were destroyed by a forest fire that broke out on May 28 and forced the eviction of 16,000 residents.