Lemieux, Ontario

The decision to relocate the community's residents was prudent - on June 20, 1993, two years after the last remaining building at Lemieux was demolished, a landslide occurred on a farm very close to the edge of the former townsite.

[1] Lemieux, a predominantly Franco-Ontarian settlement, was first established in 1850 as a mill town for lumber operations in the area, and later evolved into a farming community.

[1] Years later, on May 16, 1971, just 12 days after the Saint-Jean-Vianney disaster, a small landslide occurred on the South Nation River 4.5 km (3 mi) upstream from Lemieux.

[2] As a result, the South Nation Conservation Authority began a program of soil testing along the river to identify sites at risk.

On June 20, 1993, two years after Lemieux was abandoned, heavy rains caused a retrogressive earthflow which destroyed 17 hectares of farmland at the edge of the town site.

An estimated 2.8 to 3.5 million cubic metres of sand, silt and liquefied clay collapsed into the river, damming it for 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi) for several days.