In Switzerland, a mountain village is once again threatened by an avalanche. The town of Brienz was closed off on Monday. The village was evacuated two years ago.
Brienz is located in the Graubünden region and has about eighty inhabitants, but they haven’t lived at home for some time. Two years ago, 1.2 million cubic meters of detached rock came towards the village. Brienz was then evacuated. The material came to a standstill before it could hit the first houses.
In recent months, residents were allowed to return to the village during the day to work on the land, for example, but that has now been withdrawn. The avalanche danger has increased due to rainfall. Farmers must evacuate their animals.
The loose material has started moving again in recent days. Geologists are calculating how far stones could enter the village, writes the Swiss medium Tagesanzeiger. A new risk assessment is being made based on this.
At the end of May, the village of Blatten in Lötschental was buried under an avalanche of ice, rubble and mud after a mountain top broke off. Dozens of houses were destroyed. The three hundred residents had already been evacuated.
A 64-year-old sheep farmer went missing. He was probably buried under the rubble. The reconstruction of Blatten is now being discussed, but according to Der Bund this is complicated by the fact that rock is still coming down.