VERCHÈRES, Que. — Every year, 100−year−old Angélique Beauchemin watches more of her land crumble into the St. Lawrence River.
From her home along a busy stretch of river in Verchères, Que., on Montreal’s South Shore, she watches waves from passing ships crash into the rock wall at the base of her property, sweeping chunks away and eating into the unprotected banks from below.
The higher parts of her land, she said, are sinking an inch or two a year as they slope ever more steeply toward the river. While she’s not a scientist, she says her biggest fear is that one day there will be a landslide and the white house at the top of the hill where she’s lived for decades will tumble down….