Dike in Quebec's Laurentians declared safe, allowing evacuees to go home for holidays

Authorities say work carried out by government engineers has stabilized a dike northwest of Montreal that was at risk of bursting.

With the Morier dike in the Laurentians region deemed safe, hundreds of residents from the municipalities of Chute-Saint-Philippe and Lac-des-corces can return home after being forced out 11 days ago.

The two communities were under an emergency preventive evacuation order after signs of erosion were detected during a monthly inspection of the dike.

Authorities had initially said the evacuation order would be in place at least until Sunday, but they said today that while work and monitoring will continue over the coming days, the structureno longer presents a danger.

Nearly 1,900 properties were affected by the evacuation order, and more than 1,000 residents had registered with local officials after leaving their homes.

The provincially owned dike was built in 1954 and has the capacity to retain 382 million cubic metres of water.