Before and after satellite images show Switzerland glacier collapse destruction

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Swiss glacier collapse threatens two more villages as dam could burst

Swiss glacier collapse threatens two more villages as dam could burst and devastate the two settlements. The shocking event in Valais on Wednesday, May 28, caused the village of Blatten to be subjected to an immense amount of debris. The 300 people who live in Blatten were evacuated before the landslide, but authorities have since stated that one individual is still missing. A sewage treatment facility and power plant which had recently been built could be destroyed by the potential flood posed by the river Lonza. The village of Kippel has been evacuated as a precaution due to the flood risk posed following the landslide. A thick plume of dust could be seen arising from the Swiss village following the event. The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) said: “The lake behind the debris is getting higher and higher”

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Swiss glacier collapse threatens two more villages as dam could burst

The shocking event in Valais on Wednesday, May 28, caused the village of Blatten to be subjected to an immense amount of debris consisting of various pieces of rock and ice.

Aerial photos show the village of Blatten having been demolished by the glacier collapse (Image: AP )

Looming floodwaters are threatening to strike two more Swiss villages in after a glacier collapse saw nearly an entire village become buried under snow. The shocking avalanche in Valais on Wednesday, May 28, saw the village of Blatten subjected to an immense amount of debris consisting of various pieces of rock and ice.

It occurred after a chunk of the Birch Glacier in the south of Switzerland fell off, with broken pieces of the wedge tumbling down the mountain and leaving a huge dust cloud in the area around the village, with 90 per cent of the town now being buried in debris. The 300 people who live in Blatten were evacuated before the landslide, but authorities have since stated that one individual is still missing.

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Terrifying video captures moment massive glacier crashes down mountain and buries village READ MORE:

A thick plume of dust could be seen arising from the Swiss village following the event (Image: BBC )

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Following the dramatic turn of events, the two villages of Kippel and Wiler have been ordered to evacuate by authorities as a safety precaution. This is due to the earlier landslide now blocking the river Lonza, creating a makeshift dam that could burst and devastate the two settlements while also sweeping the debris from yesterday’s event into the area.

Antoine Jacquod, a military security official, told the Keystone-ATS news agency: “‘There is a serious risk of an ice jam that could flood the valley below.”

The army has since made a statement that equipment such as water pumps and diggers were being made available as needed.

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Christoph Hegg of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) told Blick: “The lake behind the debris is getting higher and higher. And the water masses are pressing on the dam. This increases the pressure.”

He added: “The worst case scenario is that the load on the dam becomes too great and the dam breaks. The water masses then rush into the valley and, depending on the strength of the material, are likely to sweep the debris with them.”

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Local politician Christophe Darbellay told news outlet 20 Minuten that Blatten had “disappeared from the map”, while locals told the outlet that a sewage treatment facility and power plant which had recently been built could be destroyed by the potential flood posed by the river Lonza.

The village of Kippel (foreground) has been evacuated as a precaution due to the flood risk posed following the landslide (Image: AP )

Blatten’s president Matthias Bellwald said during a press conference yesterday that the “unimaginable” had happened.

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He said: “We have lost our village, but not our hearts.

“Even though the village lies under a huge pile of rubble, we know where our homes and our church must be rebuilt.”

Blatten’s president Matthias Bellwald that residents had lost their village, but not their “hearts” (Image: AFP via Getty Images )

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Climate change has been proposed as a likely reason for the devastating events seen in the region as a result of the Birch Glacier.

Matthias Huss, head of the Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS), said that rocks in the permafrost zone of the mountain had possibly loosened and contributed to the collapse.

He told Reuters: “Unexpected things happen at places that we have not seen for hundreds of years, most probably due to climate change.”

Source: Mirror.co.uk | View original article

Images reveal how Swiss village was destroyed and flooded in glacier collapse

The Birch glacier in Switzerland’s southern Valais (Wallis) region collapsed on Wednesday, sending tons of rock, ice and scree hurtling down the mountain slope and into the valley below. The barrage largely destroyed the hamlet of Blatten, which had been home to 300 people and was evacuated last week due to the impending danger. The pictures below show the devastation the collapse caused and the subsequent flooding of the houses that remained. It left a village devastated and flooded.

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The barrage largely destroyed the hamlet of Blatten, which had been home to 300 people and was evacuated last week due to the impending danger.

The pictures below show the devastation the collapse caused and the subsequent flooding of the houses that remained.

Onlookers observe the aftermath of the landslide from a viewpoint in Wiler as an emergency vehicle sits parked nearby, on the day after a massive glacier collapsed and destroyed the evacuated village of Blatten in the Swiss Alps, on May 29, 2025. Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP)

This handout satellite image courtesy of Maxar Technologies created on May 29, 2025, shows the small village of Blatten and its surroundings in the Bietschhorn mountain of the Swiss Alps, Switzerland on May 29, 2025 after it was destroyed the previous day by a landslide after part of the huge Birch Glacier collapsed and swallowed up by the river Lonza. (Photo by Handout / Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies / AFP) This photograph shows the small village of Blatten, in the Bietschhorn mountain of the Swiss Alps, destroyed by a landslide after part of the huge Birch Glacier collapsed and swallowed up by the river Lonza the day before, in Blatten on May 29, 2025. (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP) Advertisement This photograph taken above Wiler shows the landslide after the huge Birch Glacier collapsed the day before and destroyed the evacuated small village of Blatten in the Swiss Alps, on May 29, 2025. (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP)

This photograph shows the small village of Blatten, in the Bietschhorn mountain of the Swiss Alps, destroyed by a landslide after part of the huge Birch Glacier collapsed and swallowed up by the river Lonza the day before, in Blatten on May 29, 2025. (Photo by ALEXANDRE AGRUSTI / AFP)

Source: Thelocal.ch | View original article

Rock and ice prevent rescue work after Swiss glacier collapse

The Birch glacier in Switzerland’s southern Valais (Wallis) region collapsed on May 28, sending a mass of rock, ice and scree hurtling down the mountain slope and into the valley below. The barrage largely destroyed the most of Blatten, which had been home to 300 people and was evacuated last week due to the impending danger. One 64-year-old man, believed to have been in the danger zone at the time, remains missing. A police spokesman said the difficult conditions had forced the search to be called off on May 29. A sunny and warm weather forecast means “lots of snow” will melt in the coming days, meaning “we’re still facing colossal water levels” in the artificial lake that has formed, officials said. The huge pile of glacier debris, stretching some 2km, has blocked the river Lonza.

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A satellite image shows Blatten after a glacier in the Swiss Alps partially collapsed and tumbled onto the village. PHOTO: REUTERS

FERDEN, Switzerland – Swiss authorities said on May 29 that rock and ice piles from a collapsed glacier that destroyed a village were preventing emergency services from working, but that they were cautiously optimistic no more homes were at risk.

The Birch glacier in Switzerland’s southern Valais (Wallis) region collapsed on May 28, sending a mass of rock, ice and scree hurtling down the mountain slope and into the valley below.

The barrage largely destroyed the most of Blatten, which had been home to 300 people and was evacuated last week due to the impending danger.

One 64-year-old man, believed to have been in the danger zone at the time, remains missing.

A police spokesman said the difficult conditions had forced the search to be called off on May 29.

The unstable mountain face and thousands of tonnes of rocky debris also made it impossible for emergency workers to intervene to stabilise the zone and contain the risk of flooding in the valley below, officials told a news conference.

The huge pile of glacier debris, stretching some 2km, has blocked the river Lonza.

After initially warning of a potentially devastating flood from water trapped above the debris, authorities said expert analysis indicated the risk had eased.

“The information we’ve received from geologists and other specialists tends to indicate such an event is unlikely,” Valais security chief Stephane Ganzer told a news conference.

An artificial dam in the village of Ferden, just below, has been emptied and should be able to contain any downward rush of water if it happens, said Mr Ganzer.

However, he added: “It’s unlikely, but we don’t really like that word ‘unlikely’ here since yesterday, because we know that unlikely can become likely.”

‘Terrible catastrophe’

Authorities are studying evacuation plans and have warned residents who could be affected, Mr Ganzer said.

“We have one person missing, we don’t want anyone else missing or deceased from this terrible catastrophe,” he said.

As a precaution, 16 more people were evacuated on May 28 from two villages located downstream from the disaster area in the Loetschental valley, known for scenic views and home to around 1,500 people living in villages.

Their views of the valley have definitively changed now.

Where the Birch glacier used to sit, there is now a gaping hole in the mountainside.

What is left of the village of Blatten is being submerged beneath the accumulating water of the Lonza river.

A sunny and warm weather forecast means “lots of snow” will melt in the coming days, meaning “we’re still facing colossal water levels” in the artificial lake that has formed, Mr Ganzer said.

Seismic event

YouTube footage of the collapse showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside, into the valley and partially up the mountain slope on the other side.

The force was such that Swiss monitoring stations registered the phenomenon as a seismic event.

According to officials, three million cubic metres of rock fell suddenly onto the glacier, pushing it down into the valley.

Warming temperatures have shrunk the Alps’ glaciers and made them more unstable.

Swiss glaciers, severely impacted by climate change, melted as much in 2022 and 2023 as between 1960 and 1990, losing in total about 10 percent of their volume.

In August 2017, approximately 3.1 million cubic meters of rock fell from Pizzo Cengalo, a mountain in the Alps in Graubuenden canton, near the Italian border, killing eight hikers.

Some 500,000 cubic metres of rock and mud flowed as far as the town of Bondo, causing significant damage there but no casualties. AFP

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Source: Straitstimes.com | View original article