Sinkhole swallows Quebec home, four missing

Wow, I sure hope that the missing can be found, I have seen plenty of sinkhole stories but never one where a house was being swallowed up..

Sinkhole swallows Quebec home, four missing

MONTREAL -- Rescue workers have been given the go-ahead to go back on to unstable ground to search for a family of four missing since Monday night when a huge sinkhole opened up and the family's home sank into it in St. Jude, about 77 kilometres northeast of Montreal near St. Hyacinthe.

"The rescue workers are firefighters trained in the rescue of people in very tight spaces," explained Surêté du Québec spokesperson Ronald McInnis. Search-and-rescue dogs are being used to enter the home, which is precariously tilted on an angle and partly covered by grey earth.

Hopefully there will be some good news soon from this rescue attempt.


More on this news here:

www.cbc.ca...


www.fresnobee.com...

More and more, it's apparent that something just isn't right down below us. Collapsing mines, sudden oil eruptions, earthquakes all over the place.

The family will be in my meditations. Hearts go out to those affected.

Searchers were able to find one of the family's two dogs but so far attempts to find the family of four have not been successful. They fear that the family was in the basement at the time. I sure hope that they can find them.

No sign of family missing in Que. landslide

SAINT-JUDE, Que. — The search for a family of four who presumably were in their rural Quebec home when it plummeted into a large landslide Monday night, continued Tuesday with no immediate sign of survivors.

But rescuers have located a dog, believed to be one of the two the family owned.

Crews were busy working to drain water, sand and mud from the home in order to facilitate access.

The earth opened up on the pastoral farmland on the banks of the Yamaska River, approximately 77 kilometres northeast of Montreal Monday night.

I am trying to figure this out as well it is very very strange. A lot of stuff under us seams to be in motion.

I don't dare to tell my kids about this happening they would never be able to sleep. I hate to say it but maybe my old friend OB was right and in 2010 we will start seeing some of what will happen in 2012. Just on a smaller scale.

Something is up, as far as I know, they still haven't found that car that sank in California in a big sink hole, and they dug and dug. I have a strange feeling something is going on with the world and we all need to wake up, and realize its really happening.

They found one but no news on whether the man survived..

www.ottawacitizen.com

Rescue workers northeast of Montreal are pulling the father of a family of four from the basement of a home that was swallowed by a sinkhole, but they would not confirm whether he was alive or dead.

[edit on 5/11/2010 by JacKatMtn]

Still no word on the man, but this article goes into much more detail of the efforts used to reach him.

Rescuers find man in Que. home hit by landslide

SAINT-JUDE, Que. — On Tuesday night, rescue workers northeast of Montreal were pulling the father of a family of four from the basement of a home that was swallowed by a gigantic sinkhole Monday, but they would not confirm whether he was alive or dead.

A confined spaces rescue team made the discovery around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday. Rescuers said they had not got to the other family members, the man's wife, Line, and the couple's two children.

"It is a male victim. The rescuers are frenetically working to extract the victim from the rubble. It's too early to establish his condition. a physician is there with the firefighters and the paramedics."

Sad that it happened. It does say in the link that the area is prone to landslide. It also says that the land is watersoaked.

Two are confirmed dead, they are waiting on the Dr. for the results of the other two.

news.ca.msn.com...

Very sad, they think they were watching the hockey game in their basement when it happened. Our thoughts are with them.

edit spelling

[edit on 11-5-2010 by fernx]

All four have been confirmed dead now

news.ninemsn.com.au...

Very sad news indeed

[edit on 11/5/2010 by OzWeatherman]

I'm really surprized that no-one has mentioned this yet.. (Maybe they did and I didn't see it?)

MAP 2.7 2010/05/11 14:26:56 45.468 -75.214 14.0 ONTARIO-QUEBEC BORDER REGION, CANADA

earthquake.usgs.gov...

I have no idea if it's related, or in the same location, but I think it's worth looking into!

I'm curious as to whether there is mining and / or oil extraction operations in the area.

Are there any waterways nearby etc?

Sounds like a vast area has been hollowed out in the past, but by what? Maybe there's underground rivers etc. When they say the water is rising, let's hope it isn't the land dropping!

Sad tale to say the least and the sound of my 40 year old house settling these days seems to be getting more frequent. Had a crack form in the foundation recently too!

Originally posted by OzWeatherman
All four have been confirmed dead now

news.ninemsn.com.au...

Very sad news indeed

[edit on 11/5/2010 by OzWeatherman]

Yes i too heard the confirmation of 4 dead and yes they were found in the basement , i saw the aerial video feed from LCN and i definitely find it very strange too , they said that landslides occur from time to time but this one is very strange in my opinion , we had one small earthquake not to long ago but to far from that area and very small. I will watch this thread to see if someone gets more information and not the BS were told by the media
Star and Flag

reply to post by Wookiep


sorry i wanted to post this in my initial response but google maps did not work , the cords are near Repentigny Quebec and close to Ontario border , but it is straight across the st lawrence river from repentigny , i do not think it has anything to do with that quake as i live about 5mins from Repentigny and there was no damage there or anywhere around , but that was real good that you noticed that possabilty, yes strange things all around

I think sinkholes are more products of ground water (aquifers and run off), and river water saturation, rather than tectonic activity. Its usually occurs in rocks such as limestone, as thye are dissolved by water much easier than other types of rock. The problem with that, is that sinkholes cant be easily detected from the surface, as the surface maybe intact, while below, there may be a gaping cavern. I would assume that earth tremors probably wouldnt make the situation any better, moving bedrock and such

[edit on 12/5/2010 by OzWeatherman]

That's such tragic news

Yesterday I was less concerned with what the cause was, and more concerned for that family, but it does seem to be caused by the landslide in the immediate vicinity where the house was built.

The house was only 15 years old (according to one of the articles), so should there have been a better assessment of the land before permitting the house to be built in 1995?

Are there more houses built in the area that should be reassessed to possibly prevent another tragic ending like this?



[edit on 5/12/2010 by JacKatMtn]

Sad... looking at the house/area before the sink hole you wouldnt think something like this could happen there , i mean they dont appear to be beside a river or such, I guess you never really know whats under your house.....

This house was near the Yamaska river on the south shore of the St-Lawrence river. The banks of this river have been known to have landslide from time to time but they usually happen on unoccupied land.

This was all over the news yesterday, and a witness stated on tv that over the last year he has seen small landslides near the river.

I've not heard about the small earthquake noted above but it would not be so far fetched because it is not to far from Ontario or US border.

A very sad story, the familly had two small girls, their schoolmates are in shock. My sympaties to the famillies that knew them.

reply to post by JacKatMtn


Yes , i think there is a real danger possible in the surrounding areas , to me it brought back memories of St Jean Vianney landslide in 1971 , supposedly 31 people died and 41 houses disappeared , i remember it very well and it was really terrible they did not recover most of the bodies and it was well hushed up to the point were anyone under 40's have know idea what im talking about , and yes most of us really have no idea what are houses are built on ! Pretty scary to think about that, when most people think their safe in their homes......

reply to post by Rocker-Mtl


That's another horrible event, and you would think that by 1995, better guidelines/restrictions on what is suitable land for housing would have been implemented.

How stringent are the guidelines in place in Quebec, or the country for that matter?

Is it something that needs review, or was there a failure in the system that needs to be addressed?