Search for two people missing after Quebec landslide a ‘colossal’ task: police

By The Canadian Press on July 3, 2023.

SAGUENAY, Que. – Quebec provincial police say the search continues for two people who were swept away Saturday by a landslide and a river swollen from torrential rain in Quebec’s Saguenay”“Lac-Saint-Jean region.

Police spokesman Sgt. Hugues Beaulieu says rescue teams have a “colossal” job ahead of them as they continue to search the branches of the winding Éternité River for a man and a woman, both in their 40s.

He told reporters the river swelled to four times its usual size during Saturday’s storm, which dumped around 130 millimetres of rain on the area in two hours, and debris in the water is complicating the search.

Around 30 officers are searching the area with help from police helicopters and divers, as well as search and rescue volunteers.

He says the two people are not from the town of Rivière Éternité, but declined to say where they are from.

More than 50 people were forced to leave their homes after the storm, which washed out roads and caused several landslides, and officials say they don’t know when those residents will be able to return.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2023.

8
-7