Heavy rain fell in the cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Baselland
Published: Wednesday, Jun 26th 2024, 08:30
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Thunderstorms and heavy rain partially flooded Geneva, the Basel region and Vaud on Tuesday evening. Geneva's airspace had to be closed for two hours. The fire departments in Basel-Landschaft and Vaud were called out hundreds of times.
Heavy thunderstorms hit the Geneva region on Tuesday evening. Flooding was reported in several places at the airport, but did not cause any major damage, according to airport spokesman Ignace Jeannerat. As the cooling room for servers in the Skyguide air traffic control building was affected, among other things, air traffic control decided to close the airspace for two hours shortly after 10 p.m. This was to avoid the risk of the control systems overheating.
30 flights to Geneva and 22 departures were canceled, Jeannerat told Keystone-SDA on Wednesday morning. As some aircraft and their crews had not been able to land, they had not been able to take off on Wednesday morning either. As a result, 14 flights were canceled in the early morning. Otherwise, operations continued as normal.
According to the spokesperson, around 100 passengers for whom there was no solution for the night were looked after by a crisis team in Terminal 2 of the airport. Cots, food and drinks were provided.
Heavy precipitation also in Vaud and the Basel region
Severe thunderstorms were also reported in the cantons of Basel-Landschaft and Vaud. The Vaud fire department was called out to over 200 incidents due to thunderstorms on Wednesday night. According to the cantonal police, the storm only caused material damage and there were no injuries.
The Morges region was particularly affected. "We were well above the hundred-year flood" in Morges, said cantonal police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel to Keystone-SDA on Wednesday morning. The discharge of the Morges had reached 45 m3/second, while the level of a hundred-year flood is 34 m3/second.
The heavy rainfall caused the Morges River to overflow its banks and led to flooding, particularly on the left bank, according to a statement from the city. According to Sauterel, the situation should return to normal over the course of Wednesday.
Several hundred reports of flooded cellars, power outages and other damage were received by the Basel-Landschaft cantonal police in Liestal alone, a spokeswoman told the Keystone-SDA news agency. In addition to the cantonal capital, Frenkendorf and Füllinsdorf were particularly affected.
©Keystone/SDA
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