CANADA: Landslide

Just as the noon Angelus pealed from the Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste one day last week, an earth-shaking rumble ran through the Quebec town of Nicolet (pop. 5,500). The old cathedral, built in 1757, trembled and its tall white spires tilted. The foundations of the nearby Bishop's palace crumbled and the building sank to its eaves in the mud. A Christian Brothers school toppled into the Nicolet River. A hole 40 ft. deep and 1,000 ft. long suddenly opened in the ground, swallowing an apartment house, three private homes and a service station. Small fires and explosions broke out and a cloud of smoke and dust rose hundreds of feet into the air over Nicolet.

"I thought it was an atomic bomb," said Eyewitness Jean Bainville later. It was not that bad, but the freak landslide that hit Nicolet was a sizable disaster. Three people were killed and 15 injured in the collapsing buildings. The property loss was estimated at more than $2,000,000.

Cause of the landslide was the peaceful Nicolet River. About 15 years ago, the river changed its course and left only a dry bed near the school and the cathedral. Apparently an underground stream continued to flow beneath the old river bed. eroding the soil and rock to form a natural tunnel that finally collapsed. One consolation was that the crash came on a Saturday; on a schoolday the death toll might have run into hundreds.