An artificial lake building up behind the rubble left by a glacier that dramatically plunged down a Swiss mountainside, destroying a village, is beginning to drain, authorities said Friday, reducing fears of a second catastrophe.
An artificial lake building up behind the rubble left by a glacier that dramatically plunged down a Swiss mountainside, destroying a village, is beginning to drain, authorities said Friday, reducing fears of a second catastrophe.
The huge barricade of debris formed when the Birch glacier collapsed on Wednesday has blocked the river Lonza in Switzerland’s southern Wallis region, fueling concern the dam of rubble could give way and flood the valley.
But as reconnaissance flights and inspections progressed, authorities said the water from the newly formed lake, which has been slowly submerging the remaining houses in the obliterated village of Blatten, was beginning to find its way over, through and around the blockage.
«This development is positive, but we remain cautious», said Stephane Ganzer, head of the regional security department.
«The risk remains, even if it is diminishing», he told a press conference, stressing that «no evacuations are planned» in the villages downstream in the Lotschental valley, one of the most beautiful in southern Switzerland.
The outflow «makes us optimistic and suggests that the water is finding a good path», explained Christian Studer of the Wallis canton’s Natural Hazards Service.
However, work to pump water from the lake has still not begun as the ground remains too unstable, particularly on the mountainside.
