A family from Pierreville had the fear of their life when a landslide occurred right in front of their residence on the night of Monday to Tuesday. Miraculously, no one was seriously injured.
“At one point, I said to myself, but what a crash! I felt like a truck was unloading rock. It didn’t stop,” says Nicole Dupuis.
The 65-year-old woman’s house and those of two of her neighbors were evacuated by the authorities. She was only able to take three bags of personal effects with her.
Photo courtesy, Hans Shooner
The subsidence washed away a section of Rang de l’Île approximately 300 meters by 18 meters wide, around 3:30 am.
If no residence in the Centre-du-Québec region was affected, a white van that was circulating at the time ended up in the landslide.
After the landslide, Ms. Dupuis says her son went out to see the situation. He came back in a panic, taking her by the arms.
Without serious injuries
“Mom, I think we’re living a dream,” he told her. There is no road ahead and there is a vehicle with someone in the hole. »
“I heard the cry of the horn repeatedly,” says Nicole Dupuis, who could also hear the driver’s cries of lamentation.
The man was finally able to get out of the hole on his own, without serious injuries, but bleeding from the head. He was taken to hospital for nervous shock.
Photo QMI Agency
We see the white van that ended up in the hole. The driver escaped virtually unscathed.
With tears in her eye, the sexagenarian described with difficulty the roller coaster of emotions she felt following the landslide, she who does not know when she will be able to return home.
“That’s your business,” she said with red eyes, pausing. You still have attachment. But come what may. There are no injuries, no deaths. »
Photo courtesy, Hans Shooner
A problem area
A few landslides occurred in Rang de l’Île in Pierreville between 2016 and 2019.
People in the sector told the Log that they feared that rockslides would occur.
“Everyone knew it could happen. There are lots of people from the village [de Pierreville] who avoided going through that,” said Isabelle Provost.
She preferred to carry her son to school herself rather than him taking the bus, because she found the situation too dangerous.
Photo QMI Agency
The landslide occurred around 3:30 a.m.
Last spring and in August, she had also approached the school service center to have the bus route changed, without success.
“My God, I would have been sorry [s’il était arrivé quelque chose] “, launches today Mme Provost, finding that his fears were well founded.
“I went that way at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, and there it was all destroyed. When you take the time to think that it could have happened when I was passing, it’s quite scary,” said Hans Shooner, a resident of Pierreville.
Current analyzes
It is not impossible that other landslides occur in the area.
Analyzes were underway on Tuesday to get a full picture of the situation, said Sylvain Gallant, regional director of civil security for Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec.
He ruled out the fact that other residences must be evacuated because of the risks.
The landslide in Pierreville is reminiscent of the one that occurred in La Baie, in Saguenay, this summer, forcing the evacuation of many residences.