Saguenay residents fear losing everything amid threats of another landslide

Almost 200 residents were forced from their homes due to a threat of landslides in the La Baie neighbourhood in Saguenay, Que., about 211 kilometres north of Quebec City.

Karine Minier, who had lived in her home for 20 years, was one of them. 

“I may lose the house, everything that’s in it. And it was my dream house,” she said.

Minier has been staying at her parents’ home just minutes away, in an area deemed safe, for the last six weeks. She had anticipated something bad might happen, when she saw a crack in the asphalt in front of her garage.

“I couldn’t sleep there, I freaked out every time I heard a noise,” she said.

Crack in the asphalt in Saguenay, Quebec. (Credit: Karine Minier / handout)

Last week a home was destroyed in the area because of a landslide, and Minier’s garage has now separated from her property because of a big split in the ground.

“It’s really gone, with everything that was in it,” she said.

Damage to a garage after a landslide in Saguenay, Quebec. (Credit: Karine Minier / handout)

This week, authorities said another landslide was inevitable, which is why 187 people were displaced and the area was put under a local state of emergency on Monday.

The state of emergency declaration, which is renewable every five days, will allow the City of Saguenay to take decisions more quickly regarding matters such as tendering contracts, requisitioning property and redirecting traffic.

“Levees were built yesterday at the bottom of the hill, the whole area is fenced and there’s going to be, as of today, lighting at night to make sure that we can ensure safety and spot anyone who would wander in there,” said Dominic Arseneau, a spokesperson for the City of Saguenay. 

“This is really a race of humans against nature, we’re just trying to figure out how to stabilize the ground before nature does it itself,” he added. “We obviously do not want it to happen again, but yes, the way things stand, what we do know that it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.”

“I have perfect neighbours, it’s a part of my life that’s going down, so it’s really hard to live,” Minier said. “Right now, I know people that don’t know where they are going for the next weeks or months.”

Minier was allowed back home one time for half an hour, with the help of firefighters.

“They told me, ‘Take what you need as fast as possible,’” she said. “I knew that it didn’t sound good, so I didn’t take my useful things, but I took my memories, my souvenirs, my photos, my paintings, art, things I couldn’t replace.”

#WATCH: “They told me, ‘Take what you need as fast as possible,’” said Karine Minier, whose Saguenay home is threatened by another landslide. She’s among the nearly 200 residents who aren’t able to return home, after the area was evacuated.

READ: https://t.co/882YaI0jAQ pic.twitter.com/rFIzRdtTDX

— Alyssia (@rubertuccinews) June 21, 2022

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Contact Nature, a non-profit that owns two campgrounds in La Baie, is a group that has offered to provide free accommodation to the families affected by the landslides. Its CEO, Marc-Andre Galbrand, says that five families, including Tremblay’s, have contacted him.

“There are no words; we are devastated like everyone else by what is happening,” Galbrand said in an interview Monday. “We will do everything we can to make the transition as easy as possible.”

Anyone wanting to help by making a donation can do so on the City of Saguenay’s website.

Meanwhile, residents were scheduled to meet on Monday with government officials about the different types of assistance programs available to people who are searching for emergency accommodation. Each person who was forced from their home will receive $20 a day for living expenses, the public security department said.

“The team is working really hard to find permanent housing solutions for everyone,” Arseneau said. “We just want to keep them safe.”

Quebec is also offering $260,000 to those who won’t be able to return to their homes.

A house is destroyed in La Baie, one of Saguenay’s neighbourhoods, north of Quebec City following a landslide last week as seen in this handout image provided June 20, 2022. About 187 people have since been displaced because of the threat of other landslides. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Marie-Chantale Tremblay **MANDATORY CREDIT**

Didier Perret, a research scientist with Natural Resources Canada who has been studying landslides in the Saguenay area since 1996, says the region is known for its unstable clay soil. The city, Perret added, meets a lot of the criteria for landslides.

The affected district is located on a hill with a steep incline, and recent heavy rains have made the soil particularly unstable, he said.

Engineers are currently monitoring the situation.

“They’re in the field every day conducting analysis, they’re doing pretty far surveillance to spot any movement in the ground,” Arseneau said.

For the last week, it’s been hard for her to concentrate on anything other than this.

“It’s just material things, I know that, but it was my things, my whole life. And it’s hard to say I may have to say goodbye to all of this, to my life,” she said.

For now, Minier is taking it one day at a time, in hopes to go back to her home and get a few more of her belongings. 

“I don’t know where I’m going, it may be a chapter of my life that will be over. Maybe I will have to start a new one, but I try to stay positive.”

-With files from the Canadian Press