At least four people have died in Switzerland and one remains missing due to landslides and flooding caused by heavy storms over the weekend, which caused several rivers to overflow, including the Rhône, one of the country’s main rivers.
According to the criteria of
Three of the dead were killed in a landslide in the Maggia valley in the southern canton of Ticino, where roads have been cut off, at least one bridge has been destroyed and at least 400 people have been evacuated from several campsites and homes.
A person stands in the rubble of a landslide caused by severe weather.
Photo:
Three adjacent valleys were cut off on Sunday, and power was cut off in the area. Police asked people to limit their movements and continued the search for a missing person in the area affected by the landslide.
Further west, In the canton of Valais, where the upper course of the Rhône is located, the river has overflowed in several areasforcing hundreds of people to evacuate in the main cities of that stretch of the river, Briga and Sion (cantonal capital).
Also in Valais, one person died after being swept away by water and mud in the town of Saas Grund, in the Alps near the border with Italy. The industrial area of Aigle, near the mouth of the Rhône in Lake Geneva, has also been evacuated as a precaution.
The situation has forced the suspension of rail transport in some areas of Valais, as well as traffic on the A9 motorway, in the same area where evacuations have been ordered.
The Valais authorities have recommended avoiding all non-urgent travel in the lower part of the valley, or approaching the banks of the river, which after forming Lake Geneva runs through large cities such as
Switzerland Geneva or the French Lyon, Avignon and Arles.
EFE
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