The Birch glacier, which overlooks the Lötschental valley in Switzerland, collapsed in the village of Blatten, in the canton of Valais. 90% of his homes were destroyed.
The authorities had evacuated around 300 residents as well as livestock earlier this month, fearing the collapse of the glacier. A 64 -year -old man is still missing, and the rescue teams use drones equipped with thermal cameras to search for it.
The landslide has buried parts of the Lonza river and covered with thick mud houses. For fear that significant flows of this lake lead to lateral erosion more downstream from the valley, the authorities proceeded late Wednesday evening to the evacuation of certain buildings in the neighboring communes of Wiler and Kippel.
The flows were becoming more and more regular and threatening. According to Eric Larose, geophysicist at CNRS, estimates the torrential lava “100 times”, even or even “1,000 times” larger than that normally observed in the Alps.
There “Special situation” was declared by the Swiss Council of State. The army was called in reinforcement.
