These graphics show just how much record-breaking rain hit southern B.C. recently

B.C. has declared a state of emergency and a mammoth cleanup effort is getting underway in the wake of devastating floods in the southern part of the province.

The flooding which has displaced thousands of people and damaged property, transportation networks and other infrastructure was caused by record rainfall last weekend, with many officials callingthe storm that hit the provincea once-in-a-centuryevent.

But just how rare was the amount of rain that fell? Below are a few graphics that illustrate the scope of the rainfall.

How much rain fell?

Twenty-four B.C. communities received more than 100 millimetres of rain from Saturday to Monday, according to a preliminaryEnvironment Canada weather summary issued at 5:41 a.m. PT Tuesday. This article is based on that information; asummary with finalized storm totals came later Tuesday with updated figures.

The town of Hope led the way with 252 millimetres over that timeperiod.

By way of comparison, the average rainfall for the entire month of November in Hope is 344 millimetres.

Coquihalla Summit, Agassiz, Chilliwack and Squamish also received more than 200 millimetres of rainfall from Saturday to Monday.

Where were records broken?

According to Environment Canada, preliminary rainfall records were set in 20 areas on Sunday.

Calculations "point toward a widespread one-in-50 year event, with many locations seeing a one-in-100 year event. That is putting into context how anomalous this event was," Armel Castellan, a meteorologist at Environment Canada, told a news conference Tuesday.

The Hope area smashed its previous record by nearly 140 mm, seeing 174 mm of rainfall on Sunday. Its previous record, set in 2018, was 34.7 mm.

Meanwhile, the 127.3 mm received by Agassiz on Sunday broke a rainfall record that had stood for 125 years. Its previous record of 36.3 mm was set in 1896.

Hover your mouse over the following graphic to see other areas where records were broken.

How unusual was the rainfall for this time of year?

To address this question, CBC News looked at the rainfall measuredat the Vancouver Harbour station.

Specifically, the combined rainfall total on Sunday and Monday (Nov. 14 and 15) was compared tothe combined rainfall totals of Nov. 14 and 15 in previous years going back to 1980, usinghistorical data available from Environment Canada.

As the following graphicshows, the station measured 115.8mm of rainfall over those two days this week, the highest amount in at least 41 years.

The previous high for Nov. 14 and 15in that period was 101.2 mm measured in1983.

In comparison, theaverage rainfall for those two daysfrom1980 to 2021 was a mere19.93 mm.