A river dammed by a huge Swiss landslide is flowing again. That's a relief to authorities
GENEVA (AP) — A small Alpine river dammed by a landslide that largely buried the Swiss village of Blatten is now flowing through the debris, and the level of a newly created lake that raised worries about potential new destruction has fallen, authorities said Saturday.
A huge mass of rock, ice and mud from the Birch glacier thundered into the Lötschental valley in southern Switzerland on Wednesday, destroying much of the village. Buildings that weren't buried were submerged in a lake created by the small Lonza River, whose course was dammed by the mass of material.
Authorities worried that water pooling above the mass of rock and ice could lead to risks of its own. Still, the regional government in Valais canton (state) said that the Lonza has been flowing through the full length of the debris since Friday.
Geologist and regional official Raphaël Mayoraz said Saturday that the level of the lake has since gone down about 1 meter (3.3 feet).
'The speed at which this lake is emptying comes from the river eroding the deposit,' he said at a news conference. 'This erosion is relatively slow, but that's a good thing. If it is too fast, then there is instability in this channel, and that could lead to small slides of debris.'
'The Lonza appears to have found its way, but it too early to be able to give an all-clear,' said Matthias Bellwald, Blatten's mayor.
The outlet of a dam downstream at Ferden, which is normally used to generate electricity, was opened partially on Friday evening to allow water to flow further down the valley and regulate the volume of water behind the dam. Authorities are still leaving open the possibility of evacuations further downstream if required, though the risk to other villages appears very low.
Days before most of the glacier collapsed, authorities had ordered the evacuation of about 300 people, as well as livestock, from Blatten. Switzerland's president said on Friday that the government was looking for ways to help the evacuees.
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For weeks the weight had sat above the village, nine million tonnes of rock precariously resting on an ancient slab of ice. A chunk of Kleines Nesthorn mountain's peak had crumbled, and its rubble hung over the silent, empty streets of Blatten, held back only by the glacier. The ice groaned beneath the pressure. On Wednesday afternoon, in an instant, it gave way. The ice cracked, then crumbled. The entire mass descended into the valley below, obliterating the village that had been there for more than 800 years. 'Blatten has been wiped away. Erased, obliterated, destroyed, stamped into the ground,' the village's mayor, Matthias Bellwald, said on Friday. 'The memories preserved in countless books, photo albums, documentation – everything is gone. In short, this is ground zero for Blatten.' Looking down from the slope above where the village once lay, you can still see the peaks of a few houses, piercing the mud. 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