The village destroyed by the glacier is filled with water. The fears of the inhabitants are growing
Inhabitants of Blatten are anxiously looking at the lake, which is created in the place of the buried village. There is a flood risk in the region.
Tragic events with Blatten have their continuation. A powerful landslide, which on Thursday, May 29 destroyed the village in the Alps, does not mean the end of the threat. The glacier that fell on the settlement began to melt, and the valley was filled with water. There is a growing risk of flood, which could also affect neighboring villages. In the case of Blatten, the authorities managed to evacuate the inhabitants before the element attack. One person is considered missing.
The landslide in the Alps destroyed the village
Located in the Swiss canton, Valais, the village of Blatten was swept out of the earth’s surface through a landslide caused by a detached fragment of the Birch glacier. The tragedy took place on Thursday, May 29, ten days after the successful evacuation of residents from the endangered area. Unfortunately, one person left on the spot. A 64-year-old man is considered missing, and drones are currently used to search for him.
The huge tragedy, which is losing a place to live, is not the end of the problems of the region’s inhabitants. The valley, where the glacier settled, is now filled with water. A pile of glacial debris, which extends over a length of two kilometers, blots the nearby Lonza River. So there is a flood risk, which could also flood neighboring villages.
The threat in Blatten has not passed
Unfortunately, the destroyed area is currently too unstable to start a real assessment of flood threat there – this is to be carried out at the earliest this afternoon. Already now, remembering the scale of damage in the village of Blatten, it was decided to evacuate sixteen people from the areas below. Other security measures were also taken. “The artificial dam was emptied to accept the water repelled by the wall of ice, soil and debris. If the water spilled through the dam, the authorities would have to consider the evacuation of the valley,” reads in Deutche Welle.
Residents do not hide their surprise with recent events. “At the moment, the shock is so deep that it is difficult to start thinking about all this at all,” says Jonas Jeitziner, an official from the neighboring village of Wiler.
