Floods and landslides devastate Swiss Alpine valleys
Published: Sunday, Jun 23rd 2024, 18:21
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The flood situation calmed down in various regions of Switzerland on Sunday, leaving behind a picture of devastation in a number of Alpine valleys. A missing man was found dead in the southern Graubünden valley of Misox. In the side valleys of Valais, the infrastructure was partially destroyed.
Two people were still missing in the village of Sorte GR in Misox on Sunday evening, according to the emergency services. A violent thunderstorm swept across the valley on Friday evening. The River Moesa burst its banks and swept away parts of the A13 national road. The cantonal road was also damaged. A mudslide destroyed three houses in Sorte GR. Four people were initially missing.
A resident of the middle house was rescued from the rubble on Saturday morning. She was able to alert the rescue services by activating an application on her cell phone, as the incident commander William Kloter told the Keystone-SDA news agency. The woman was able to leave the intensive care unit of a hospital in Lugano TI and is doing well under the circumstances.
On Sunday, Alpine Rescue found a male body in the Moesa, as announced at a media conference in Roveredo GR. This is one of the missing persons. According to Kloter, the chances of finding the two people who are still missing alive are minimal.
The Ticino Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis went to the damage sites on Sunday. At a joint media conference with the presidents of the cantons of Graubünden and Ticino, Cassis spoke of a "sad day" for the affected communities, the cantons of Graubünden and Ticino and the whole of Switzerland.
Traffic axis remains interrupted
Due to the damage to the A13 and the cantonal road in Misox, the north-south traffic axis over the San Bernardino Pass will remain closed until further notice. The Federal Roads Office (Astra) recommends the A2 highway through the Gotthard tunnel as an alternative. On Sunday, the waiting time in front of the south portal was around one hour and 40 minutes, as reported by the TCS via X.
Parts of the A13 have collapsed, as an Astra spokesperson said on request. If conditions permit, repair work should begin on Monday. The Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) will also attempt to solve the traffic problems on Monday.
The cantonal road should not be an alternative for transit traffic, said Jon Domenic Parolini, President of the Graubünden cantonal government. This would primarily serve regional and local traffic in the Misox. "If international traffic also ends up using the cantonal road, then it is bound to collapse several times over," said Parolini.
Alarm for the Rhone lifted
The situation in Valais has stabilized and the floods that began on Saturday are continuing to recede, as announced on Sunday by the Presidency of the State Council and the Cantonal Command Office (KFO). As a result, the alert for the Rhone and its tributaries as well as the special situation were lifted.
According to the communiqué, the precipitation that has fallen since Thursday, the melting snow and the saturation of the soil have led to the flooding of the Rhone and its tributaries. There were also several debris flows along tributaries, particularly in the Zermatt, Evolène and Val d'Anniviers regions.
Damage in the side valleys
Those responsible for the particularly affected areas, who were contacted by the Keystone-SDA news agency on Sunday, initially expressed relief that there had been no fatalities. However, they emphasized that the damage was considerable.
No one wanted to put an exact figure on it, but there was talk of many millions of francs. In addition, it would take several months before the work was completed and the situation was back to normal.
In the Val d'Anniviers and Val d'Hérens valleys, sewers and roads close to the river were damaged. The Navisence and Borgne rivers overflowed their banks. The situation is currently catastrophic, said David Melly, mayor of Anniviers.
In Evolène, in the Val d'Hérens, "the main drinking water pipe was destroyed", reported Patrick Sierro, vice president of the municipality. A temporary solution is being put in place.
Zermatt was temporarily out of reach
The Vispa, a river in the Mattertal valley, burst its banks on Friday. The road and railroad line between Täsch and Zermatt were closed due to the risk of flooding. The railroad between the two villages was reopened on Saturday evening. The road was also passable again from then on.
Due to damage to the infrastructure between Visp and Täsch, travelers will have to use a rail replacement bus for this route. The closed section of the route will remain closed until at least the end of this week, it was reported on Saturday.
The situation in Chablais in the canton of Vaud returned to normal, as the canton's crisis management team announced on Sunday. No damage was caused. On Sunday, large quantities of wood were removed from the mouth of the Rhone into Lake Geneva.
The discharge of the Rhone had already reached its peak during the night from Friday to Saturday, as the Valais authorities wrote. The water levels in the rivers are still high and the floods have weakened the riverbanks, they added. The authorities are advising people not to go near riverbeds.
Lake Constance water level rises less sharply
The rise in water levels on Lake Constance slowed on Sunday compared to the previous day. According to the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), it will reach its highest level on Monday.
The lake had burst its banks in some places, said a representative of the Kreuzlingen regional command post at the request of Keystone-SDA. However, the Thurgau cantonal police had not received any reports of damage due to the high water levels by early Sunday evening, according to spokesman Matthias Graf.
The FOEN assumes that the flood risk level for Lake Constance will remain at level four and that level 5 (very high risk) will not be reached.
©Keystone/SDA
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