Victims of La Baie, in Saguenay, oscillate between hope and fear after the evacuation of their homes, a few days ago, because of the risk of landslide.
“I hope it won’t get harder, because I find it already hard,” breathes Doris De La Durantaye, met in her son’s yard. With her husband, Thierry Coup, she had to evacuate last Saturday the house she had lived in for 28 years. “It’s beyond me,” said the 58-year-old woman, looking at her hands. I have a functional head, but my heart cries all the time. »
After being ordered to vacate the premises by 7 a.m. on Sunday, the couple hastily packed up their most prized souvenirs and possessions. Relatives came to lend him a hand, says Mr. Coup. “My wife and I couldn’t think anymore,” says the 60-year-old man. It was our friends and relatives who decided what to release. »
In total, more than 190 people were evacuated from the La Baie sector, in Saguenay. On June 13, a landslide swept away a house. Mr. Coup was in his kitchen at the time of the events, he says. Outside, he saw the wires moving and heard a rumble. “I said to my wife: Doris, it’s falling, it’s falling! Then he waited. “But what are you waiting for? he asks. Are you going to be carried away? You have no idea. »
Since then, the couple has been on the alert and fears a new landslide. Suddenly, in the middle of the conversation with The duty, a siren sounds in the distance. ” What is that ? says M.me De La Durantaye, worried, pointing to the sky.
Thierry Coup and his wife say they want to keep hope. “But the more the days pass, the more we realize that it is possible that we can no longer go to our house, murmurs Doris De La Durantaye. And the more it hurts. Although she says she is aware that it is “material”, it represents “the efforts of a lifetime”, she specifies.
Mr. Coup wants the City to “hurry to fix the situation”. On Monday, Carol Girard, director of the Saguenay Fire Department and emergency measures coordinator, said she hoped to be able to reduce the perimeter, if necessary, and allow certain residents to return to their homes. However, he did not want to “make any promises”, stressing that it may be necessary to expand the perimeter. On Tuesday, soil analysis work aimed at understanding the causes of the landslide continued in La Baie.
Efforts are continuing so that “adequate housing is found for everyone by the end of the week”, assured the communications advisor for the City of Saguenay Dominic Arseneau. Some evacuees are presently in their secondary residence, in their campsite, in a dwelling of the Municipal Housing Office, in a dwelling of a private owner or in a hotel.
” It’s too dangerous “
A few kilometers from the evacuated area, Jonathan Ouellette lives in one of the hostels that receive disaster victims. The 44-year-old man says he has little hope of returning to his house, which he has lived in since 2009, anytime soon. “We can’t go there, it’s too dangerous,” he says, looking far away. It is a race between “Mother Nature” and the human being to be able to stabilize the risk zone before another landslide, he explains, taking up the comments made the day before by Mayor Julie Dufour.
When he learned of the evacuation order last Saturday, Mr. Ouellette quickly rolled up his sleeves. He grabbed his memories and important papers, then emptied his fridges and freezers, he says. But he had to stop at times. “The hardest part is when I went to sit in my son’s room,” said the former soldier. He was still born there. »
We must now look to the future, says Mr. Ouellette. “We’re going to make other memories,” he said, smirking.
“From 0 to 100”
Near the evacuation zone, in a parking lot, Jeff Mclean and his mother, Andrée Drolet, look at their house, which is inside the security perimeter. The wind blows in the trees around the evacuated homes.
From home, M.me Drolet says he “saw everything” about the June 13 landslide. She was then with her 8-year-old granddaughter and her 6-year-old grandson. “We came out of the house and saw the dust packet,” says the 62-year-old woman. “The children are very marked,” she breathes.
Jeff Mclean now says he is “serene”, since his children live with him at his in-laws’. But last Saturday, “the intensity rose from 0 to 100”, says the 36-year-old man, toasting a cigarette. “We were told: ‘You leave, you take your things. However, he regrets not having been able to pick up some of his belongings on Sunday.
Mme Drolet also shares this opinion. “At my age, all my memories, everything I have accumulated, everything will go. I didn’t take anything out. I took out two suitcases of clothes and my medication. “She must live” from day to day “, launches the retiree, raising her arms to the sky.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister François Legault will be in La Baie to offer his help and support to the disaster victims.
Monday, the state of emergency was extended for five days in Saguenay, after the signing of the ministerial decree by the Minister of Public Security, Geneviève Guilbault. This decree notably allows the municipality to award contracts without a call for tenders.
With The Canadian Press