Looking to 2023 | Nature unleashed

Forest fires, smog, torrential rains, floods, ice, natural disasters have increased in 2023, causing both human tragedies and significant material damage.


PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS

In April, black ice hit Montreal and southern Quebec, damaging thousands of trees and depriving more than a million homes of electricity. Laurier Park, in Montreal, was not spared.

PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS

Children play in a park in the Sainte-Famille sector, in Sept-Îles, threatened with evacuation due to forest fires at the beginning of June.

PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS

Wildfires have had impacts far beyond the burned areas. The smoke was felt in several cities much further south, including Montreal, Toronto and even New York. The view from the Mount Royal lookout was particularly gloomy at the end of June.

PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS

This bus rushes into the viaduct of Avenue De Lorimier under Promenade Masson, in Montreal, completely flooded following torrential rains at the end of August.

PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESS

A historic flood, caused by melting snow and heavy rains, devastated Baie-Saint-Paul at the beginning of May, causing significant damage throughout the region, washing away two major roads and isolating hundreds of people.

PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS

A few months after a major fire, life slowly returned to life in October, on the territory operated by the Boisaco cooperative on the North Shore.

PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS

Around 40 homes in the Cree community of Sturgeon Lake, Alberta, were destroyed by a forest fire in May.

PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS

Spring floods caused the Rivière du Nord to overflow in the Laurentians, forcing Saint-Colomban firefighters to use an inflatable boat to visit disaster victims in April.

PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS

At the beginning of May, the Lanaudière region – and more particularly Sainte-Émélie-de-l’Énergie – was affected by rising water levels. A landslide on the banks of the Black River threatened to carry away this house.


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