Alert issued by Swiss authorities on potential additional flooding following glacier rupture - Flood alert issued in Switzerland by authorities
A glacier collapse in the Swiss canton of Wallis on Wednesday has led to flooding in nearby villages, prompting evacuations and raising concerns about future incidents. According to civil defense reports, at least 16 residents from Wiler and Kippel, two villages downstream in the Lötschental valley, were evacuated on Thursday.
In Blatten, a village situated in the path of the collapsed Birch glacier, houses spared by the initial disaster were subsequently destroyed by the floodwaters of the Lonza. The mayor of the municipality of Ferden noted, "The water is now flooding the houses that were initially spared by the major event." A 64-year-old man remains missing, as reported by authorities.
Approximately three million cubic meters of rock and ice plummeted into the valley during the collapse, necessitating evacuation beforehand. The village of Blatten, home to around 300 residents, was already evacuated the previous week.
Authorities have expressed concern over the possibility of further flooding, potentially affecting the villages of Gampel and Steg. However, this outcome is currently considered extremely unlikely. Natural hazards expert Christian Studer suggests that a significant portion of the debris will likely liquefy due to high temperatures and flow down towards the valley.
The collapse of the glacier was expected, as activity at the glacier had been high for several days, culminating in intense activity on Wednesday. The trend of melting glaciers due to climate change has been accelerating over the past two years, with Swiss glaciers losing about 10% of their mass in just these years - the amount lost between 1960 and 1990. This destabilizes mountain structures, leading to landslides and glacier collapses, as seen in the recent collapse of the Birch Glacier.
In August 2017, a massive rockslide in the canton of Graubünden resulted in the death of eight hikers. Hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of rock and mud hit the village of Bondo, causing significant destruction, but fortunately no residents were injured, as Bondo had been evacuated beforehand.
The possibility of future glacier collapses and associated hazards, such as flooding and landslides, could pose numerous challenges to Switzerland, including environmental, human, and social impacts. Efforts towards monitoring, early warning systems, engineering solutions, and climate change mitigation are crucial in addressing this issue.
- The community in Blatten, currently evacuated, faces the threat of further destruction as melting glaciers, a consequence of climate change, may liquefy debris and cause downstream flooding, potentially impacting nearby villages like Gampel and Steg.
- In response to the ongoing challenges posed by glacial instability and climate change, it is imperative for the community to focus on monitoring, early warning systems, engineering solutions, and climate change mitigation efforts, emphasizing the importance of science, health-and-wellness, and environmental science for the prevention and management of natural disasters.
