The hundreds of people urgently evacuated in the Laurentians due to the precarious state of a dike will have to be patient since it is “impossible” to bring forward a date for the moment.
This was indicated by the Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel, who visited Mont-Laurier on Tuesday to meet the population and those involved in the matter.
“It would be inadequate to give a return date in X number of days. We don’t know what could happen,” he explained during a press conference, addressing evacuees from Chute-Saint-Philippe and Lac-des-Écorces.
The work to make the access road to the dike suitable for vehicles has been completed, detailed Martin Ferland, engineer at the general directorate of dams of the Ministry of the Environment.
Work to reinforce the structure by backfilling it could begin this weekend or next week at the latest, he added.
Last Sunday evening, the Ministry of Public Security issued an “extreme” severity alert and had a thousand residences evacuated after observing water flows with sediment at the foot of the structure.