About thirty members of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) were again deployed at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday morning to find the man who was carried away after the destruction of a culvert in Saint-Henri-de-Taillon the day before. .
• Read also: Drama in Lac-Saint-Jean: missing in a ravine after the flood
In addition to foot patrollers, divers, police boats and a helicopter, the provincial police force has deployed dog handlers in the field.
“There were a lot of heaps of rubbish, branches and mudslides that were dragged by the rush of water. We must examine this carefully, we believe that the body could be there, ”explains Hugues Beaulieu, spokesperson for the SQ.
Recall that a man in his sixties was reported missing on Wednesday after having sunk, with his vehicle, in the hole formed by the collapse of the chemin Ulysse, located between Saint-Henri-de-Taillon, Alma and L’Ascension-de -Our Lord.
While it was first reported the day before that the van of the missing man had been dragged about 600 meters, it was eventually found nearly 2.4 km downstream from the scene of the incident. And this, despite the many pronounced curves of the river.
The second vehicle which was also washed away, from which a man was able to extricate himself safe and sound, was found about 1000 feet away.
Mouse step
The Sûreté du Québec will also deploy a watercraft in the Rivière aux Snags, downstream from the Ulysse road where the stream swollen by precipitation flowed during the “deluge” the day before.
“It will cover the banks and go up the whole stream, until it is no longer navigable, to make sure nothing is left to chance”, specifies Mr. Beaulieu.
Several sectors of the place have already been excavated since the beginning of the drama, but the excavations are difficult in the quadrangle of research. Unable to access it otherwise, patrol officers had also been dropped off with the help of a helicopter in the middle of the forest on Wednesday.
“It is progressing, but at a mouse pace. The progression is very tedious on the ground which is very uneven, ”says the spokesperson for the SQ.