MONTREAL – Residents of Quebec’s Saguenay – Lac-St-Jean region are returning home after torrential rain over the weekend caused a series of landslides, including one that killed two people.
An official with the town of Rivière-Éternité says that while it’s safe for residents to return, some homes have been damaged by water and mud and will need disinfecting before they can be lived in again.
Sandra Côté says the town will know by the end of the day how many homes are habitable.
Côté says the condition of the soil has been analyzed and did not show signs of landslide risks, adding that the drinking water supply has been reconnected in the affected zone.
More than 50 residents were forced to leave their homes after a storm on Saturday dumped 130 millimetres of rain on the area in the span of two hours, causing landslides and flooding homes.
Police on Tuesday said they found the bodies of two people who were caught in a landslide and swept away by the engorged Éternité River.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 5, 2023.
