Huge Rock Avalanche Hits Evacuated Swiss Village
17th June 2023
Last modified on June 26th, 2023
Millions of cubic metres of rock have fallen. Some boulders landed just meters from buildings in Brienz but there was no extensive damage. The threat of further falls remains with villagers still not allowed home.
The entire village was evacuated last month as we reported at the time on PlanetSKI: Swiss village evacuated due to fear of rockfall
Recently some villagers had complained they were not allowed back, but now the geologists have been proved right.
It is estimated 2 million cubic meters came down.
Authorities say the village had a lucky escape.
#InfoGFS: In der Nacht ist ein grosser Teil der #Insel Richtung Brienz/Brinzauls abgegangen. Die Felsmassen verfehlten das Dorf nur knapp: Auf der Kantonsstrasse beim Schulhaus hinterliessen sie eine meterhohe Ablagerung. #BrienzerRutsch #GlückGehabt pic.twitter.com/yedkdjPiKa
— Gemeinde Albula/Alvra (@AlbulaAlvra) June 16, 2023
The village is near the ski resort of Leukerbad.
There is still up to a million unstable cubic metres of unstable rock up the mountain so the villagers are not being allowed back to their homes.
A Swiss geologist from Graubunden, Andreas Huwiler, said that Brienz must continue to exercise patience as safety is not yet guaranteed.
The debris flow is 12m high in places and is not yet stable.
It follows a rockfall in Austria earlier this month.
Experts fear there will be more rockfalls with climate change melting the permafrost and predictions of more rain making the ground unstable.
Related Articles:
Last summer there were several incidents:
- Final death toll in Italian glacier collapse reaches 11
- Glacier collapse on Mt Blanc threatens
- Warnings of further glacier collapses as climate change makes mountains unstable
- Swiss set to vote on new climate law
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