FOG BLOG CANADA NEWS LOG: FLOODING & LANDSLIDE THREAT CONTINUES IN SAGUENAY QUE.!

Quebec extends state of emergency in Saguenay because of landslide threat Officials in Saguenay, Que., secured a perimeter around a neighbourhood at risk of landslides Tuesday and tried to ensure that residents forced from their homes had places to stay.

City spokesman Dominic Arseneau said private security guards and police will conduct patrols in the La Baie district, adding that flood lights will be installed to deter thieves from entering unoccupied residences. People are being asked to avoid the area because of safety risks, he added.

Authorities said Tuesday that 192 residents had been relocated from 76 homes in the Saguenay neighbourhood after a landslide destroyed a house last week. The city declared a state of emergency over the weekend and ordered the area evacuated.

The evacuation order, Arseneau said, is likely to remain for many weeks or even months.

“The experts have said the ground will move and … we are in a race against nature. We have to find a way to stabilize the ground before the next landslide happens,” Arseneau said.

“There will be another landslide if we don’t do anything. We just don’t know when or the magnitude.”

Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault tweeted late Monday afternoon that she signed a decree allowing Saguenay to extend a state of emergency. The emergency order is renewable every five days and allows the city to take decisions more quickly on matters such as tendering contracts, requisitioning property and redirecting traffic.