4 missing after Quebec home falls in sinkhole

AP on Yahoo ^ | 5/11/10 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

SAINT-JUDE, Quebec – Four people, including two children, are missing after the land beneath their home gave way and swallowed their house northeast of Montreal, officials said Tuesday.

Rescue authorities said the house partially collapsed Monday night in Saint-Jude, a town of 1,000 near the Yamaska River, when a sinkhole formed.

"It's a pretty gigantic crater," said Francois Gregoire, a Quebec fire department spokesman. "It's hard imagining something like this. It's pretty impressive."

Gregoire said the house was quite far from the river before the land gave way but that part of it ended up in the water.

[Straight Vermonter]

Aerial video at the link.

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100511/quebec-landslide-yamaska-100511/20100511/?hub=CalgaryHome

[mlocher]

A preview of our coming economy.

[righttackle44]

I’m sorry for your need to make a wisecrack when we face the prospects of dead children.

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks.

[NormsRevenge]

from a pic caption at that link..

The landslide affected an area at least 450 metres long and left a huge crevice.

—

That’s a good sized slide..

Sinkholes are popping up . or is it down all over of late..

[bgill]

Oh my. That aerial picture is something. Prayers.

Did this happen at night when the family was sleeping or what? There does seem to be more sink holes and land shifting these days. There was a neighborhood near here that had to be evacuated not long ago, too. Maybe due to all the earthquakes?

[GunsAndBibles]

Dear Father in Heaven, please let this happen to Nancy Pelosi.

(It’s okay, King David prayed for this kinda stuff alla time)

[fieldmarshaldj]

Prayers for the missing.

[BlackElk]

Did this happen at night when the family was sleeping or what?

It happened during a Canadiens playoff game, which would almost guarantee that people were home watching.

[hoosierham]

Hoorific.

The people were probably smothered in mud after being trapped in the house wreckage..

A sonic/wideband radar? scan of the underground below our feet could be very useful;for instance,I have no idea if the common "sinkholes" found in a few places on my property are small caves OR the impingment of a huge underground cave or bubble.Many of us might well be living and working atop a crusty bubble that could collapse any moment.The power of water to erode is not a small thing.

[USMCPOP]

[bgill]

Many of us might well be living and working atop a crusty bubble that could collapse any moment.

My well hits water at 14 feet...

[hoosierham]

But is that tapping a small underground vein or stream OR an immense underground lake?

[bgill]

But is that tapping a small underground vein or stream OR an immense underground lake?

The last. When erosion is in the equation it is really only a matter of time.

[reagan_fanatic]

How horrific. What a terrible way to die.

Prayers for the souls of those passed on and for the grieving relatives.

[Manic_Episode]

They speculate the family may have been in the basement when the home was swept away.

Prayers up.

[Del Rapier]

Didn’t they have that problem in Centralia although for very different raisons?

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I believer the bigger problem in Centralia was toxins caused by the underground burning coal seam they couldn't put out. They did have some sink holes.

[NonValueAdded]

Global Warming’s fault!