The St-Jean Vianney Mudslide

In the afternoon of May 4, 1971, the dogs in the Quebec town of St. Jean Vianney began to bark and whimper. Cows refused to leave their barns, and children came in from lunch, claiming that the ground was shaking and making strange noises. That night, as the town settled in for sleep, the unstable wet clay soil suddenly began to move. A hole opened up in the ground and began to suck whole houses into its maw. Families escaped from their homes and ran down the street to get away from the widening hole. Thirty-six homes were lost and thirty-one people died in the disaster. The town of St. Jean Vianney was abandoned and new building laws in Quebec were established.