Latest news with #KarinKeller-Sutter
Euronews
2 days ago
- Climate
- Euronews
Swiss villages on flood alert after glacier collapse buries Blatten
Authorities in southern Switzerland are on high alert as concerns grow over potential flooding along the Lonza River following the collapse of the Birch Glacier earlier this week. A massive avalanche of rock and ice swept down into the Lötschental valley, burying much of the Alpine village of Blatten under mud and debris. Officials report that 90% of the village has been destroyed. The collapse caused debris to fill the bed of the Lonza River, creating a dam and causing a lake to form upstream. Officials warn that if the dam gives way, the resulting surge could flood communities downstream. Authorities have begun dismantling pedestrian bridges and reinforcing critical infrastructure to prepare for possible flooding in Gampel and residents have been advised to arrange emergency accommodation in case of evacuation. "I didn't sleep last night," one woman told reporters. "We were constantly waiting - if something happens, we have to go." To mitigate the risk, authorities have emptied the Ferden dam downstream, hoping it can absorb some of the potential overflow if there is a breach. The Swiss army has been deployed to the region but is currently unable to conduct ground operations due to ongoing instability. In Blatten, the devastation is extensive. Aerial footage shows homes submerged in thick mud, with roads and structures either buried or swept away. Authorities had evacuated more than 300 people, as well as livestock, from Blatten village as a precaution earlier this month, but one man remains missing following the incident. However, local police say the search and rescue operation has been temporarily suspended because of falling debris. President Karin Keller-Sutter visited the region earlier on Friday.
NDTV
2 days ago
- Climate
- NDTV
"I Lost Everything": Swiss Residents After Glacier Debris Buries Village
Wiler: Residents struggled on Thursday to absorb the scale of devastation caused by a huge slab of glacier that buried most of their picturesque Swiss village, in what scientists suspect is a dramatic example of climate change's impact on the Alps. A deluge of millions of cubic meters of ice, mud and rock crashed down a mountain on Wednesday, engulfing the village of Blatten and the few houses that remained were later flooded. Its 300 residents had already been evacuated earlier in May after part of the mountain behind the Birch Glacier began to crumble. Rescue teams with search dogs and thermal drone scans have continued looking for a missing 64-year-old man but have found nothing. Local authorities suspended the search on Thursday afternoon, saying the debris mounds were too unstable for now and warned of further rockfalls. With the Swiss army closely monitoring the situation, flooding worsened during the day as vast mounds of debris almost two kilometers across clogged the path of the River Lonza, causing a huge lake to form amid the wreckage and raising fears that the morass could dislodge. Water levels have been rising by 80 centimetres an hour from the blocked river and melting glacier ice, Stephane Ganzer, head of the security division for the Valais canton, told reporters. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter is returning early from high-level talks in Ireland and will visit the site on Friday, her office said. "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 told Reuters. "Things happened there that no one here thought were possible." Profound Shock The worst scenario would be that a wave of debris bursts the nearby Ferden Dam, Valais canton official Ganzer said. He added that the chances of this further mudslide were currently unlikely, noting that the dam had been emptied as a precaution so it could act as a buffer zone. Local authorities said that the buildings in Blatten which had emerged intact from the landslide are now flooded and that some residents of nearby villages had been evacuated. The army said around 50 personnel as well as water pumps, diggers and other heavy equipment were on standby to provide relief when it was safe. 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. Asked how he felt about the future, he said, gazing towards the plain of mud: "Right now, the shock is so profound that one can't think about it yet." The catastrophe has revived concern about the impact of rising temperatures on Alpine permafrost where thawing has loosened some rock structures, creating new mountain hazards. For years, the Birch Glacier has been creeping down the mountainside, pressured by shifting debris near the summit. Matthias Huss, head of Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland, pointed to the likely influence of climate change in loosening the rock mass among the permafrost, which triggered the collapse. "Unexpected things happen at places that we have not seen for hundreds of years, most probably due to climate change," he told Reuters.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Climate
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘I lost everything': Swiss residents in shock after glacier debris buries village
Wiler, Switzerland: Residents struggled on Thursday to absorb the scale of devastation caused by a huge slab of glacier that buried most of their picturesque Swiss village, in what scientists suspect is a dramatic example of climate change's impact on the Alps. 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 were later flooded. Its 300 residents had already been evacuated earlier in May after part of the mountain behind the Birch Glacier began to crumble. Rescue teams with search dogs and thermal drone scans have continued looking for a missing 64-year-old man but have found nothing. Local authorities suspended the search on Thursday afternoon, saying the debris mounds were too unstable for now and warned of further rockfalls. With the Swiss army closely monitoring the situation, flooding worsened during the day as vast mounds of debris almost two kilometres across clogged the path of the River Lonza, causing a huge lake to form amid the wreckage and raising fears that the morass could dislodge. Water levels have been rising by 80 centimetres an hour from the blocked river and melting glacier ice, Stephane Ganzer, head of the security division for the Valais canton, told reporters. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter is returning early from high-level talks in Ireland and will visit the site on Friday, her office said. '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.
The Age
2 days ago
- Climate
- The Age
‘I lost everything': Swiss residents in shock after glacier debris buries village
Wiler, Switzerland: Residents struggled on Thursday to absorb the scale of devastation caused by a huge slab of glacier that buried most of their picturesque Swiss village, in what scientists suspect is a dramatic example of climate change's impact on the Alps. 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 were later flooded. Its 300 residents had already been evacuated earlier in May after part of the mountain behind the Birch Glacier began to crumble. Rescue teams with search dogs and thermal drone scans have continued looking for a missing 64-year-old man but have found nothing. Local authorities suspended the search on Thursday afternoon, saying the debris mounds were too unstable for now and warned of further rockfalls. With the Swiss army closely monitoring the situation, flooding worsened during the day as vast mounds of debris almost two kilometres across clogged the path of the River Lonza, causing a huge lake to form amid the wreckage and raising fears that the morass could dislodge. Water levels have been rising by 80 centimetres an hour from the blocked river and melting glacier ice, Stephane Ganzer, head of the security division for the Valais canton, told reporters. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter is returning early from high-level talks in Ireland and will visit the site on Friday, her office said. '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.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Swiss village buried in glacier collapse
A village in Switzerland was buried in a recent glacier collapse, according to Swiss officials. 'Almost the entire Birch Glacier, located above Blatten, collapsed, causing a gigantic landslide,' the government of the canton of Valais said in a Thursday press release translated from French. 'At the bottom of the valley, a huge deposit of ice and rock, several dozen meters thick and approximately two kilometers long, buried most of the village of Blatten. The damage is considerable,' the press release continued. The Valais government also said there was a missing person and that numerous 'resources have been deployed to deal with this situation.' In a Wednesday post on the social platform X translated from German, Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter said it is 'terrible to lose your home.' 'I feel for the residents of Blatten at this time,' she added. According to a Swiss tourism website, Blatten is 'is the highest village in the Lötschental Valley' and is in southwest Switzerland. 'For the time being, given the risks and geological instability, any intervention in the disaster area is impossible. The army stands ready to intervene with water pumps, excavators, and other heavy-duty clearing equipment, as well as lighting equipment. Civil protection has also been mobilized,' Valais said in a later translated press release. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
