[PHOTOS] A large landslide occurs in Pierreville

A Pierreville family feared for their lives when a landslide hit their home overnight Monday through Tuesday. Miraculously no one was seriously injured.

“At one point, I said to myself, what a crash! It felt like a truck unloading a rock. It didn’t stop,” says Nicole Dupuis.

The 65-year-old woman’s home and two of her neighbors were evacuated by authorities. She could only carry three bags of personal effects with her.

About 300 meters and 18 meters wide, the slide swept away a section of the Rong de l’El at around 3:30 am.

While no residences were affected in the Centre-du-Quebec area, a white van that was driving around was caught in the landslide.

After the landslide, Mrs Dupuis says her son went outside to check on the situation. He came back panicking holding her hand.

Without serious injuries

“Mom, I think we’re living a dream,” he told her. There is no road ahead, someone’s vehicle is in the hole. »

“I heard the horn wail over and over again,” says Nicole Dubuis, who could also hear the driver moaning.

Eventually the man managed to get out of the hole on his own, unscathed but bleeding from the head. He was taken to hospital with nervous shock.

Through tears, the sex worker described the roller coaster of emotions she felt following the landslide, not knowing when she would be able to return home.

“That’s your business,” she paused, red-eyed. You still have the connection. But what may come. No injuries, no fatalities. »

A problem area

Between 2016 and 2019 a few landslides occurred on the Rang de l’Île in Pierreville.

People from the department said Register They feared that the rocks would collapse.

“Everyone knows it can happen. There are a lot of people from the village [de Pierreville] Who avoided passing through,” said Isabelle Provost.

She preferred to take her son to school herself rather than take him by bus because she considered the situation too dangerous.

Last spring and again in August, I tried to reach out to the school service center to change the bus route to no avail.

“God, I must have regretted it [s’il était arrivé quelque chose] “, starts today M^me Provost found his fears well founded.

“I went that way on Tuesday at 10pm and it was all destroyed. When you think that this could have happened while I was passing by, it’s pretty scary,” said Bearville resident Hans Schooner.

Current analyses

Other landslides in the region are unlikely.

Sylvain Gallant, regional director of civil defense for Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec, said analyzes were underway on Tuesday to get a full picture of the situation.

He dismissed the fact that other residences had to be evacuated because of the dangers.

The Pierreville landslide is reminiscent of the one that occurred at La Baie in the Saguenay this summer, forcing the evacuation of several residences.