Storm Joachim swept over Switzerland on Friday, disrupting transport and causing power cuts in several places.
This content was published on
1 minute
swissinfo.ch and agencies
Western Switzerland was particularly badly hit.
The Swiss meteorological office described it as one of the most powerful storms in the last ten years. It said it was exceptional because it lasted so long, with winds of between 40 and 60 kilometers an hour for more than 12 hours.
The strongest gusts were measured on the Säntis in the north-east, at 176 kilometers an hour and on Pilatus, near Lucerne, at 159.
Flights were disrupted at Zurich and Basel airports, and all shipping on Lake Geneva was cancelled, including important commuter runs.
In the Jura region of canton Bern, an early morning local train was derailed after hitting a fallen tree, slightly injuring three people. Other lines in the area were also blocked by trees.
A number of places experienced power cuts, particularly in the north-western canton of Basel-Country.
However, no deaths or serious injuries have been reported.
While lower areas were lashed by rain, there were heavy snowfalls in the mountains.
In southern Switzerland, the car shuttle train between Kandersteg and Goppenstein was cancelled because of snow and the danger of avalanches, cutting off the villages of the Lötschental.
The meteorological office said on Friday evening that the storm had passed its peak at was moving eastwards.
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.
Read more
More
“Lothar has made the forests more stable”
This content was published on
Forester Jakob Zaugg told swissinfo.ch he still has vivid memories of the storm that took its toll of countless woods in Switzerland. “Trees flew with their roots like arrows 80 metres into the air and then fell to the ground. I’d never seen anything like that before.” Zaugg, who has been self-employed in the special…
This content was published on
It’s not just the autumn, the beginning of the year was also historically dry, leading to a dramatic roll-on effect. Figures compiled by the national weather service MeteoSwiss show precipitation levels in western Switzerland and the Rhone valley for 2011 so far (January 1 to November 19) are the lowest since records began in 1864.…
This content was published on
The findings give fascinating new context to centuries of European history. Results indicate, for example, that wet and warm summers facilitated Roman and medieval prosperity, and that the demise of the Western Roman Empire coincided with a period of increased climate variability. The wide tranche of temperature and precipitation data is also useful in assessing…
This content was published on
Heavy rainfall and flooding in Bern as well as east and central Switzerland in August 2005 caused heavy damage amounting to SFr2.5 billion.
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.