Latest news with #JonasJeitziner
ABC News
3 days ago
- Climate
- ABC News
Flood risk threatens Swiss valley after village destroyed by glacier
Water trapped behind a mass of glacial debris that buried a village in southern Switzerland has sparked warnings that further evacuations may be needed amid the risk of flooding in the Alpine valley. A deluge of millions of cubic metres of ice, mud and rock crashed down a mountain on Wednesday, engulfing the village of Blatten, and the few houses that remained later flooded. Its 300 residents had been evacuated earlier in May after part of the mountain behind the Birch Glacier began to crumble. Flooding increased on Thursday as the mound of debris almost 2 kilometres across clogged the path of the River Lonza, causing a lake to form amid the wreckage, raising fears that the morass could dislodge and trigger more evacuations. Late on Thursday, local authorities urged residents in Gampel and Steg, villages several kilometres further along the Lonza Valley, to prepare for possible evacuation in case of emergency. The army is standing by with water pumps, diggers and other heavy equipment to provide relief when conditions allow. Authorities were airlifting livestock out of the area, said Jonas Jeitziner, a local official in Wiler, as a few sheep scrambled out of a container lowered from a helicopter. Rescue teams have been looking for a 64-year-old man missing since the landslide. Local authorities suspended the search on Thursday afternoon, saying the debris mounds were too unstable for now, and warning of further rockfalls. Residents have struggled to absorb the scale of destruction caused by the deluge, an event that scientists suspect is a dramatic example of the impact of climate change in the Alps. "I don't want to talk just now. I lost everything yesterday. I hope you understand," said one middle-aged woman from Blatten, declining to give her name as she sat alone disconsolately in front of a church in the neighbouring village of Wiler. Nearby, the road ran along the valley before ending abruptly at the mass of mud and debris now blanketing her own village. A thin cloud of dust hung in the air over the Kleines Nesthorn Mountain where the rockslide occurred while a helicopter buzzed overhead. Werner Bellwald, a 65-year-old cultural studies expert, lost the wooden family house built in 1654 where he lived in Ried, a hamlet next to Blatten also wiped out by the deluge. "You can't tell that there was ever a settlement there," he said. Reuters
The Independent
4 days ago
- Climate
- The Independent
One person missing after Glacier collapse buries parts of Swiss village under mud and rock
One person is missing after a huge chunk of a glacier in the Swiss Alps broke off, causing a deluge of ice, mud and rock to bury part of the mountain village of Blatten on Wednesday. Authorities had been monitoring the slopes above Blatten since ordering residents to leave their homes earlier this month as a precautionary measure due to the risk of a rockslide. Social media footage captured the rumbling mudslide as it cascaded down the southern Lötschental valley. Images from the scene showed several cabins partially submerged in the debris. In recent days, authorities had ordered the evacuation of approximately 300 residents and all livestock from the village. This action was prompted by concerns that a 1.5 million cubic meter glacier situated above Blatten was in danger of collapsing. Local authorities were being deployed by helicopter and across the area to assess the damage and whether there had been any casualties, Jonas Jeitziner, a spokesperson for the Lötschental crisis centre, said. "An unbelievable amount of material thundered down into the valley," said Matthias Ebener, a spokesperson for local authorities in the southwestern canton of Valais. One person was missing, Ebener said. Buildings and infrastructure in the village nestled in the Loetschental valley in southern Switzerland were hit hard by the rockslide. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter expressed her solidarity with the local population as emergency services warned people that the area was hazardous and urged them to stay away, closing off the main road into the valley. "It's terrible to lose your home," Keller-Sutter said on X. In 2023, residents of the village of Brienz, in eastern Switzerland, were evacuated before a huge mass of rock slid down a mountainside, stopping just short of the settlement. Brienz was evacuated again last year because of the threat of a further rockslide.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Climate
- The Independent
Glacier collapse buries parts of Swiss village under mud and rock
One person is missing after a huge chunk of a glacier in the Swiss Alps broke off, causing a deluge of ice, mud and rock to bury part of the mountain village of Blatten on Wednesday. Authorities had been monitoring the slopes above Blatten since ordering residents to leave their homes earlier this month as a precautionary measure due to the risk of a rockslide. Social media footage captured the rumbling mudslide as it cascaded down the southern Lötschental valley. Images from the scene showed several cabins partially submerged in the debris. In recent days, authorities had ordered the evacuation of approximately 300 residents and all livestock from the village. This action was prompted by concerns that a 1.5 million cubic meter glacier situated above Blatten was in danger of collapsing. Local authorities were being deployed by helicopter and across the area to assess the damage and whether there had been any casualties, Jonas Jeitziner, a spokesperson for the Lötschental crisis centre, said. "An unbelievable amount of material thundered down into the valley," said Matthias Ebener, a spokesperson for local authorities in the southwestern canton of Valais. One person was missing, Ebener said. Buildings and infrastructure in the village nestled in the Loetschental valley in southern Switzerland were hit hard by the rockslide. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter expressed her solidarity with the local population as emergency services warned people that the area was hazardous and urged them to stay away, closing off the main road into the valley. "It's terrible to lose your home," Keller-Sutter said on X. In 2023, residents of the village of Brienz, in eastern Switzerland, were evacuated before a huge mass of rock slid down a mountainside, stopping just short of the settlement. Brienz was evacuated again last year because of the threat of a further rockslide.
Metro
5 days ago
- Science
- Metro
Major warning issued for tourist hotspot after glacier collapse
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A huge mass of rock and ice has destroyed part of a popular village in the Swiss Alps that was evacuated earlier this month. A video on social media showed the rumbling mudslide near Blatten, in the southern Lotschental valley of Switzerland, with several cabins partially submerged. In recent days, the authorities had ordered the evacuation of about 300 people, as well as all livestock from the village, amid fears that a 1.5 million cubic metre glacier above the village was at risk of collapse. Local authorities were deploying across the area to assess the damage and whether there had been any casualties, Jonas Jeitziner, a spokesman for the Lotschental crisis centre, said. The retreat of the Alps' glaciers has been well documented. More than 500 glaciers have already vanished from Switzerland, and the government has warned that the remaining 1,500 will be gone by the end of the century if emissions are not curbed. It has led to so-called 'last chance' tourism, where visitors flock to see such natural wonders while they still can. Yes, there has always been natural variation in the size of these frozen rivers. But Switzerland's glaciers suffered their second-worst melt rate in 2023 after record 2022 losses, shrinking their overall volume by 10% in the last two years, monitoring body GLAMOS said last September. The 'catastrophic' figures meant they lost as much ice in two years as in the three decades before 1990. Late last year, scientists warned that a glacier known as 'the doomsday glacier', which has the potential to cause sea levels to rise across the planet, could be on the verge of collapse. Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) used underwater robots to take new measurements of the Thwaites Glacier, which is the same size as Great Britain or Florida. More Trending The data suggestsed that the glacier, along with much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, could be lost entirely by the 23rd century. Worryingly, if it collapses entirely, the experts say global sea levels would rise by two feet (65cm), plunging huge areas underwater. In 2023, residents of the village of Brienz, in eastern Switzerland, were evacuated before a huge mass of rock slid down a mountainside, stopping just short of the settlement. Brienz was evacuated again last year because of the threat of a further rockslide. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Who is hosting Eurovision 2025? Everything you need to know about Michelle Hunziker MORE: I've watched Eurovision for 45 years — here's my party survival guide MORE: Eurovision star wants to break 30 year 'curse' that's doomed other singers
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Moment village is buried, with 'many homes' destroyed when massive glacier crashes down Swiss mountain
A massive glacier collapse on Wednesday in southern Switzerland partially destroyed the small village of Blatten, which had been completely evacuated last week due to the impending danger, officials said. At around 3:30 pm local time, a huge collapse occurred on the Birch Glacier, emergency services in the Wallis region said. Many homes in Blatten, normally home to 300 people, were destroyed, Jonas Jeitziner, deputy information officer for the regional emergency management service, told Switzerland's Keystone-ATS domestic news agency. One person is currently missing, officials said. The glacier collapse had been expected for several days. Terrifying footage posted on YouTube showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountain slope and into the valley where the village is located. The debris reached the houses. Separate drone footage broadcast by Swiss national broadcaster SRF showed a vast plain of mud and soil completely covering part of the village and the river running through it. 'An unbelievable amount of material thundered down into the valley,' said Matthias Ebener, a spokesperson for local authorities in the southwestern canton of Valais. A significant increase in activity was observed on the glacier from Tuesday night and intensified during Wednesday. The Alps mountain range in Europe has seen its glaciers retreat in recent years due to warming that most scientists attribute to climate change. Swiss glaciers, severely impacted by climate change, melted as much in 2022 and 2023 as between 1960 and 1990, losing in total about 10 percent of their volume. The amount of snow covering Switzerland's glaciers at the end of winter this year was 13 percent below the 2010-2020 average, a group of glacier monitoring experts said earlier in May. It comes after hundreds were evacuated from the Alpine village in southern Switzerland amid fears of an imminent rockslide. Residents- and a herd of 52 cows - were evacuated by authorities in Tuesday as a precaution. Many feared they would never see their homes again as experts revealed 1.5 million cubic metres of had already tumbled down the mountainside. Last Monday, some 200,000 cubic metres of rock descended down the mountain face, with the situation having stabilised by the next day. Alban Brigger, a natural hazards engineer in Upper Valais, was even more stark in his warning last week - that the mountain is certain to collapse. He added however that this event could potentially happen over several, smaller landscapes, rather than a widescale collapse that would obliterate the hamlet and nearby roads. Residents were evacuated by authorities on Tuesday as a precaution, as scientists predict a further landslide of millions of cubic metres of rock within hours A firefighter blocks traffic on a road as a security measure against a possible rockfall in the direction of Blatten in the canton of Valais on May 19 In 2023, residents of the village of Brienz in eastern Switzerland were evacuated before a huge mass of rock slid down a mountainside, stopping just short of the settlement. Brienz was evacuated again last year because of the threat of a further rockslide. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter expressed her solidarity with the local population as emergency services warned people the area was hazardous and urged them to stay away, closing off the main road into the valley. 'It's terrible to lose your home,' Keller-Sutter said on X.
