Accumulations of rain never seen before have caused damage and unfortunately also deaths and missing persons in the Canton of Ticino and in many areas of Switzerland, where a wave of storms and intense rain were responsible for landslides, collapse of bridges and flooding. The victims were two women swept away by a landslide in Val Bavona.
It is maximum emergency for bad weather in the Canton of Ticino and in many areas of Switzerland, where a wave of storms and heavy rain have created accumulations never seen before causing damage and unfortunately even dead and missing. The most affected area is Upper Ticino and in particular Upper Vallemaggia where in the early hours of today, Sunday 30 June, the evacuation of homes near the Maggia river was ordered. The bad weather caused some bridges to collapse while landslides isolated several inhabited centers and caused the death of two people while a third was missing.
Two women dead in Ticino, dragged away by landslide
The two victims are two Swiss German women who were in Val Bavona, in their holiday home, and would have been overwhelmed by the landslide that hit the Fontana area. The two bodies were found by the cantonal police who are now looking for a third person, who is missing. At the moment there would also be 300 people stuck in Peccia, where a football tournament was supposed to be held, and around seventy in Mogno where there is a summer camp. In both cases the evacuation is underway with the support of the Army, in particular in Mogno where around forty children were taken to the valley.
Isolated villages and collapsed bridges in upper Ticino
The damage caused by the bad weather has electricity and drinking water supply interrupted in many areas while the collapse of bridges and landslides have isolated numerous centers. The inconveniences in the Bavona, Lavizzara and Campo valleys, which are no longer accessible and without electricity and drinking water. The population has been invited to go up to the upper floors and not to approach the waterways. “The situation is very delicate” admit the rescuers who are having difficulty moving because of landslides and collapses. According to the experts, in the area an enormous amount of rain has fallen in a very short time, we are talking about 200 millimeters fallen in just 24 hours which have brought the flow of the Maggia river from 25 cubic meters per second to a good two thousand.
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Over 200 millimeters of rain in a short time
“It was a phenomenon quite typical of those areas, however this time it was particularly intense, one of those that do not occur so often, with very significant amounts of rainfall. We are talking about peaks exceeding 200 mm on the total of the event with epicentre just above Cevio, in the Bignasco area” explained Luca Panzera of Meteo Svizzera Locarno Monti, adding: “We have seen hourly cumulus clouds above 50 mm. The Bignasco hydrometer recorded an increase of approximately 600 cubic meters in three hours. It practically set the station’s new high ever. However, after one o’clock, the station no longer transmitted data. We don’t know if it still works, but since the power was no longer there, the transmissions were interrupted.”
Serious damage due to bad weather has also been recorded in Valais, where intense rains caused a rapid increase in the level of the Rhone, landslides and landslides. Clearances are underway and the A9 motorway is now partially blocked.
In France three dead in a car crushed by a tree
Bad weather has also caused deaths in France, where in the Aube department, in the Grand Est region, rain and gusts of wind have raged for hours, causing a tree to collapse and hit a passing car. The accident occurred on the D396 road, between Rosnay-l’Hôpital and Brienne-le-Château, where a tree fell and hit a car: the toll is 3 victims and a fourth seriously injured. “The chestnut tree broke five meters high due to the force of the wind, falling violently on the car,” explained the mayor. “The firefighters intervened to free the vehicle because the tree was enormous. There were four people in the car. They are people between seventy and eighty years old. Three people died. A fourth person is between life and death. All from the area. They had to go home,” added the mayor.
