Demolition brings end to trying era

Mayor Ross Humber points to a string of houses as he drives up to a fenced-off portion of the old Route 430 highway. Theres a lot of this town that should never have been dead.

In moments, old family homes in Daniels Harbour became piles of rubble with several swipes by the arm of an excavator. Demolition of homes located in a cordoned-off area began early onSept. 26. Photo by Jeff Elliott/The Northern Pen

Fluorescent pink Xs mark the fate of more than a dozen properties that trace the Daniels Harbour coastline.

Soon, the excavator starts its work and demolition begins early in the morning on Sept. 26.

One after the other, family homes are turned into piles of rubble.

The community of nearly 260 was plagued by a series of landslides in the past few years. In October 2006, a state of emergency was declared when the earth gave way, displacing four houses and one business as masses of soil descended into the Atlantic swell below.

In April 2007, 120,000 cubic metres of earth toppled into the sea by a landslide three times more powerful than the first which hit just months prior, causing a bungalow to careen over the chewed-away cliff, splashing into the Gulf of

St. Lawrence. Many nearby homeowners were forced to flee their houses, which were left on the embankment edge, thought to be too dangerous to occupy.

The 30-metre escarpment also devoured a portion of Route 430, which once cut through town, leaving most of the communities on the Northern Peninsula temporarily cut off from the rest of the province. Engineers eventually made a new route that completely bypassed the town.

The last landslide occurred in June 2008, but it didnt endanger any homes.

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Demolition brings end to trying era