Evacuations underway in Laurentian towns as dike threatens to burst

Quebec's Public SecurityMinistryis ordering the preventive evacuation of two towns in the Laurentians due to therisk of a dike failing.

Residents of Chute-Saint-Philippe and Lac-des-corces who live along the Kiamika and Livre rivers must vacate immediately, said the ministry.

TheJacques-Lesage sports centre, in Mont-Laurier, Que., at 801 rue Alix, is welcoming evacuees. Officials have requested that those staying elsewhere inform their municipality of where they are going.

Residents should anticipate that they will not have access to their homes for the next five days, Urgence Qubec said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

As of 9 a.m. on Monday, 90 per cent of households in Chute-Saint-Philippe that needed to be evacuated had been, authorities said a news conference. About 1,000 people were displaced.

The Environment Ministry, which is responsible for the dike, says a routine inspection last week revealed the dam's stability might be compromised, likely because of internal erosion. Emergency work is due to start today, said Joshua Mnard Suarez, a spokesperson for the Public Security Ministry.

According to the Environment Ministry's website, the Morier dike was built in 1954. It is 16 metres high and has a storage capacity of more than382 billionlitres enough to fill more than 100,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Sret du Qubecspokesperson Marc Tessier said police and firefightersare going door to door to give people information, and evacuated areas will still be patrolled.

Public Security Minister Franois Bonnardel said he was aware of the alert in force.