Military operation in the wake of storms in the Maggia Valley TI ended
Published: Monday, Sep 16th 2024, 13:40
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The Swiss Armed Forces completed 76 flight hours during the clean-up operation following the storm in the Maggia Valley in Ticino at the end of June. A total of 762 police officers and over 100 firefighters were deployed. Ticino has not yet provided any information on the costs incurred.
The work in the upper Maggia Valley, which was devastated by a severe storm, has not yet been completed, the President of the Ticino cantonal government Christian Vitta (FDP) told the media in Bellinzona on Monday. Further commitment is needed to "give this region a future".
Last but not least, Ticino is hoping for the additional loans requested by the Federal Council on Friday for the cantons of Graubünden, Ticino, Valais, Vaud and Bern, which were affected by the storms. Parliament must decide on the total of CHF 56.5 million.
From an organizational point of view, the Ticino government drew a positive balance of the clean-up work. Cooperation with the army - whose deployment ended on Monday - had worked extremely well.
As Maurizio Dattrino, commander of the army operation, explained, the army provided disaster relief in the first phase until the end of July. In the second phase, it primarily supported the civilian service with military vehicles. 538 members of the Locarno and Maggia Valley Civil Defense carried out a total of 3414 daily missions, as explained by Patrik Arnold.
While the upper Maggia Valley is accessible again, the road into the Bavona Valley will remain closed until at least the end of the year, explained Andrea Baumer, head of the Bavona Valley road consortium, when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency. Only homeowners and farmers will be able to access the valley with a permit when road construction work is interrupted and the weather is fine.
©Keystone/SDA
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