Storm-damaged road reopens in Saas Valley in southern Switzerland
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Storm-damaged road reopens in Saas Valley in southern Switzerland
The Saas Valley in canton Valais is once again fully accessible. The main road into the valley had been closed for six days due to a landslide caused by storms and heavy rain.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Deutsch
de
Saastal wieder uneingeschränkt erreichbar
Original
The road to the mountain resort of Saas Fee was reopened at around 10am on Wednesday, Stefan Luggen from the Valais Mobility Office told the Keystone-SDA news agency.
Representatives from Saas Valley Tourism visited the site of the landslide on Wednesday to thank the workers and “all those who actively worked to clear the road”, the organisation said in a press statement.
The road between Eisten and Saas-Balen was interrupted after a landslide on September 5. Around 2,200 people, mainly Swiss tourists, were stranded in the valley after the storms.
Several thousand tonnes of rock had crashed down the mountain, the cantonal engineer in charge, Vincent Pellissier, explained on Monday. Before the workers could start building a temporary road, explosives had to be used to clear huge rocks that had tumbled down the mountain. The largest rocks had a volume of 100 cubic metres, or weighed around 270 tonnes.
The road reopening on Wednesday is still temporary, however. The canton is still seeking a definitive solution for the bridge over the Mattwaldbach stream, said Luggen. According to Pellissier, it should be completed in ten months at the latest and run a little further away from the rock face in order to avoid a similar situation in the future.
Helicopters were used to evacuate some people from the valley. Since Friday, 1,200-1,300 people were able to leave the valley by helicopter, according to Simon Bumann, spokesperson for the regional command staff. In addition, material and food could be delivered to the cut-off villages.
Adapted from French by DeepL/sb
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Foreign affairs
European nations snub Swiss-made weapons over Ukraine restrictions
Swiss President remembers victims of October 7 attack
This content was published on
One year after the attack on Israel by Hamas, Swiss President Viola Amherd remembered the victims and called for the release of all hostages.
Lausanne public transport to go all-electric by 2030
This content was published on
The company that runs public transport in the Swiss city of Lausanne intends to convert its entire fleet of vehicles to electric power within the next five years.
UBS lowers growth forecasts for Swiss economy in 2025
This content was published on
Economists at UBS have lowered their growth forecasts for Switzerland's economy next year, citing a slowdown in the eurozone as a factor.
Russia opens criminal case against Swiss journalist for crossing Kursk border
This content was published on
The Russian secret service has opened proceedings against Swiss journalist Kurt Pelda for crossing the state border in the Kursk region.
Swiss mushroom pickers face shortage of poison antidote
This content was published on
Tox Info Suisse is urging amateur mushroom pickers to have their pickings checked amid a current shortage of the antidote used to treat mushroom poisoning.
Swiss skies too cloudy for spotting aurora borealis
This content was published on
The northern lights were visible on Sunday night only near the border with Austria. The Swiss sky was too overcast to observe the lights.
Memorial service held in Bern for October 7 attack victims
This content was published on
Over 200 people commemorated the victims of the Hamas attack on Israel one year ago in Bern's synagogue on Sunday evening.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.