Record heat in Switzerland, Zermatt swamped by water
Environment — di Valentina Neri
A flood without rain: it happened in Zermatt, at the foot of the Matterhorn, caused by record heat that melted part of the glacier.
Record heat in Switzerland, Zermatt swamped by water
A flood without rain: it happened in Zermatt, at the foot of the Matterhorn, caused by record heat that melted part of the glacier.
An entire town flooded without a single drop of rain having fallen. Yet another extraordinary episode of this summer, marked by increasingly intense heatwaves, takes us to Switzerland. More precisely to Zermatt, a small town in the canton of Valais popular with skiing and mountaineering enthusiasts, situated at an altitude of around 1,600 metres at the foot of the Matterhorn.
On the evening of 24 July, residents and tourists were caught off guard by an enormous mass of water that swept through streets, homes and surrounding land. The Triftbach torrent had burst its banks, carrying sand and rocks along in its powerful flow. According to statements made to the Keystone-ATS agency by the local administration and cantonal police, the high temperatures (above 30 degrees even at altitude) had partially melted the glacier, draining an underground lake. The latter discharged a large quantity of water and debris into the torrent, triggering the dramatic flood. No injuries have been reported at this time.
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