SAINTE-MONIQUE — A landslide swept away a home and part of a road northeast of Montreal early Wednesday, leaving a gaping hole in the land but no injuries.
André Lemire said the ground opened up at around 6 a.m., swallowing up the land and his neighbour’s house.
“I knew what was happening, because I knew it would happen one day,” said Lemire, who lives on a farm by the river in Ste-Monique, Que. Lemire said he was first alerted early in the morning by his partner, who heard noises outside.
As he left his home, he saw power lines on fire, and “the path disappeared behind me.”
Lemire said his neighbour, Fernand Therrien, was able to escape before the landslide consumed the home. Another neighbour said Therrien owned four dogs, who were also safe.
Sylvain Gallant, regional civil security director, told reporters in Ste-Monique, Que., that the house was empty when the landslide occurred and nobody was hurt.
The roof of the buried house was visible at the bottom of the hole, which Gallant estimated at 760 metres long and 150 wide. He had given an estimate of 300 metres by 100 earlier in the day, but had told reporters the landslide was expanding.
“It’s certain that under current conditions, this landslide will grow even larger because the walls are still too steep,” he said.
Several surrounding homes, including Lemire’s, were evacuated out of caution. Gallant said it wasn’t clear when the evacuees would be able to return.
Gallant said the area is known for landslides and there has been heavy rain in recent days, but said it was still too early to determine the cause of the natural disaster. “The Ste-Monique area is known for landslides,” he said. “This magnitude is quite rare, but it’s an area that’s on sensitive clay, so these are things that can happen.”
Lemire, who has lived in the area for 50 years, confirmed there have always been rockfalls and slides in the region. At one time, landowners sunk wood, rocks and even old cars along the riverbanks in the hopes of stabilizing them, he said.
Ste-Monique Mayor Denise Gendron said the community of about 500 people faces landslide risks on both sides of the Nicolet River. The province has published maps indicating areas of higher risk, but she said the homes in the community predate the maps.
“Even here in the village, there is a large part that is at risk,” she said at city hall, where she met evacuees.
A major landslide occurred in 1955 in the nearby city of Nicolet, killing three people and causing millions of dollars in damage.
A summary of a 1964 report on the National Research Council website said slope stability was a problem in the valleys of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers due to “extra-sensitive” marine clay, which “liquefies when it is disturbed from its natural state.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2025.
— With files from Morgan Lowrie in Montreal
Stéphane Blais, The Canadian Press
