It will be several weeks before Riverside Drive in Corner Brook reopens to traffic and pedestrians.

A stretch of the road alongside the Humber River was buried by a massive landslide late Monday that swept a truck into the water and narrowly missed burying a car.

Two people managed to escape from the truck and were rescued from the water by police officers.

Mayor Jim Parsons says no one could have foreseen the incident, noting a separate road washout last weekend was in a different area and unrelated.

“Last Friday we had a brook that essentially spilled over its bank a little bit, pushing water across the road,” he said. “That was nothing compared to what we’re seeing now. This is something very different.”

Parsons says the landslide originated from a higher elevation, adding engineers are assessing the stability of the hillside before bringing in heavy equipment to clear the road.