After three months away from home, dozens of citizens of La Baie returned to their homes on Saturday, close to the crater dug in the neighborhood by a landslide in June. Some come back with fear in their stomachs. Others, determined to make up for lost time.
Benoît Paquin didn’t wait long on Saturday. Just hours after returning home, he got on his lawn tractor to freshen up his lawn. “We’ve been waiting for this for long enough,” he says, his voice drowned out by the roar of the engine.
It has been almost three months since a section of the La Baie district, in Saguenay, broke away without warning, carrying a house in its path, and forcing the evacuation of several dozen homes.
Relatives, friends, ex-companions: the citizens questioned on Saturday by The duty all found roofs under which to shelter during the stabilization work, which lasted all summer. At the top of the knoll, along the winding streets, brushy terrain strewn with weeds testifies to the passage of time.
On Parc Avenue, emptiness. Where a row of houses used to stand this spring is today a vacant lot surrounded by fences and orange cones. In August, the City began the demolition of the five houses at risk. The operation is complete. Lower down, the dwelling swept away last June 13 still lies between the debris, the branches of trees and the canvas of an above-ground swimming pool which will no longer be used.
“It hurts my heart,” breathes Pierre Tremblay, his gaze turned towards the cliff dug by the landslide. “We are in shock. We’ve been here for fifty years, nothing ever happened,” he continues in the entrance of his childhood home. This will be sold to the owner of one of the houses demolished last month.
“No instability”
On Saturday, some of the approximately 180 victims evacuated in June returned to their homes. Others will be able to reintegrate them this week. In a note to the population, the City of Saguenay assures that “stabilization work is progressing and [qu’]no instability was observed”. A sign that the work is not finished, walls made of concrete blocks have been put up here and there in the borough.
“I have fears. It leaves me a little perplexed,” says Mr. Tremblay bluntly.
“They say we are among the safest. We will believe it… We want to believe it! says Irène Plouffe, whose house overlooks the land left vacant by the demolitions. “But there, seeing the neighbors’ house which is gone, I find it sad…”, she continues.
Serge Carrier was at the forefront of the landslide. The house washed away by the earth three months ago has practically leaned against his. From his land, the Baieriverain can still see a microwave through the carcass of the house. Like a memory of everyday life taken away on June 13th.
“It made a nasty racket, then it scared us a lot,” recalls Mr. Carrier, still scarred by the events. “Just hearing the noise it made… After that, realizing that, phew, we barely got away with it.” [Ma femme] shouted. I walked out, and all I saw was dust falling. »
Lower down, Thierry Coup always says he is “on the alert”. “We will still be a couple of days,” he says. “We were left with fear,” adds his wife, Doris De La Durantaye.
“We are told that there are still risks of minor landslides. Definition of minor slip, please? she jokes.
“We lost three months”
At the Coup-De La Durantaye, no damage to report. Among the neighbors on the other hand, “it was flooded”, remarks another owner of the district, passing by there.
Mr. Coup deplores “a lost summer”. “We feel that we have lost three months of our life, he summarizes. We are happy today, but there… We have to cut the lawn. You have to bring in furniture. Resuming the daily life that has been shattered. »
further in the neighborhood, The duty interrupts Michel Fortin in the middle of weeding. “It pushes through the asphalt!” he says, pointing to his cracked entrance.
“I won’t do much today,” he warned. Brownouts have been working it out for some time.
The apples that fell from his apple tree this summer littering the grounds of his house? They will be picked up another day. “They fell in the hay. We can’t pass the mower through that, ”he breathes between two puffs of a cigarette.
The La Baie landslide caused no deaths or injuries. Around the cavity dug in the heart of the district, daily life is gradually resuming. “We’ve been waiting to come back for quite a long time,” rejoices Benoît Paquin.
After addressing the To have to, he resumes mowing his lawn. Since this morning, he has already filled and emptied the tank of his tractor six times. “One shot that we will have made the hay, he said, we will be correct. »