Floods cause damage in Graubünden and Valais
Published: Saturday, Jun 22nd 2024, 19:30
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Rainfall and heavy thunderstorms have caused streams and rivers to rise. This led to major damage in certain regions. In Misox GR, for example, several people were buried under mud and debris, the connection to Zermatt VS is interrupted and the level of Lake Constance reached danger level four. Further landslides are feared.
On Friday evening, several streams in the southern Graubünden valley of Misox carried so much water that they burst their banks and flooded various villages with debris, wood and other material, as the Graubünden cantonal police reported on Saturday. In the village of Sorte, three houses and three vehicles were swept away by the masses of water.
Four people were buried. "We managed to save at least one life", said William Kloter, commander of the Graubünden cantonal police for the Misox region, at a media conference in Roveredo GR on Saturday morning, which was broadcast by Italian-language Swiss television RSI. One woman was rescued injured and taken to hospital in Lugano TI.
According to the communiqué, the three other people were still missing on Saturday evening. These people may have been in their homes at the time of the storm and were swept away by the floods.
On Saturday, the emergency services searched for the missing persons using helicopters and drones, said Kloter. The Redog rescue dog organization was also deployed with five dog teams and a team leader, the organization wrote on X.
Federal and cantonal experts flew over the Misox by helicopter to take pictures of the region, which has been severely affected by flooding and landslides, wrote the Federal Office for the Environment on X. The images were used by the canton of Graubünden to assess the situation and decide how to proceed.
Electricity, water and traffic interrupted
Five villages in the Graubünden valley were without electricity on Saturday. In some of the affected villages, the water supply was also interrupted. The A13 national road between Roveredo GR and the San Bernardino Pass was affected and had to be closed on Friday evening.
The road in Lostallo has collapsed over a distance of around 200 meters, said Lorenzo Quolantoni, spokesman for the Federal Roads Office (Astra), in response to an inquiry from the Keystone-SDA news agency. If conditions permit, repair work will begin on Monday. No more precise details could be given about the duration of the closure.
The cantonal road in the valley was also closed, according to a spokesperson for the Graubünden cantonal police. Only the emergency services were able to reach the affected villages from the south via the road. Boulders five to ten meters in size were lying on the road.
Valais maintains alert level
The water levels of the Rhone and the lateral watercourses in Valais have fallen. However, "increased vigilance is necessary", announced the Valais cantonal management body (KFO) early on Saturday evening. The alert level and the special situation are being maintained.
The situation on the Rhone has calmed down, as Antoine Jacquod, deputy head of the Civil Security Service, told Keystone-SDA. "What worries us very, very much are the side valleys, especially the Matter, Anniviers and Hérens valleys, where the ground is very destabilized."
In these areas, there were several floods and debris flows along the tributaries, which only receded "very slowly". The KFO feared landslides there. What happens next will depend on the strength of the thunderstorms on Saturday, Jacquod added.
Most of the 230 people who had to be evacuated on Friday, mainly from Chippis, were able to return home. According to Jacquod, 59 people across the canton have had to leave their homes.
Zermatt accessible again from 8 pm
The railroad line and the road to and from Zermatt VS had been closed since Friday due to the risk of flooding. The operator of the railroad line communicated on X that trains would be running again on the route from Täsch to Zermatt from 7.55 pm according to the timetable. However, this does not apply to the continuous line between Visp and Täsch below Zermatt.
Train services there will remain suspended until at least the end of next week. The flooding in the Vispa has had a "massive" impact on the line in several places, meaning that major repair work is required. Rail replacement buses will be running to get to Täsch.
Second highest danger level on Lake Constance
The water level of Lake Constance exceeded the threshold for flood risk level four of a total of five on Saturday. According to data from the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), the water level rose by around ten centimetres from midnight until 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Flood risk level four also applied to Untersee, the western part of Lake Constance. This level means "great danger" with regard to flooding.
The lake is rising by about one centimeter every 2.5 hours, said a representative of the Kreuzlingen regional command staff when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency. In certain places, there is not much reserve left.
Last week, the water level in the lake in eastern Switzerland already reached danger level four. Therefore, no special measures need to be taken at present because the mobile dyke systems from last week have not been dismantled, the representative of the command staff continued.
Risk of landslides remains high
Due to the weather conditions and the precipitation of recent weeks, the soil is heavily saturated in many places, Michèle Oberhänsli, hydrologist at the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), told Keystone-SDA on request. Further heavy precipitation could lead to local landslides.
The weather situation will be changeable over the next few days: it will alternate between rain, sunshine and cloudy periods, explained the hydrologist.
©Keystone/SDA
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