A large part of the Birch Glacier collapsed in the European Alps on Wednesday, leading to a devastating flood of ice, mud, and stone that nearly buried Blatten in the Valais canton, just over a week after residents were told to leave. Authorities confirmed that one man is missing, and they warned recovery may take decades, as drone footage captured the spectacular moment the ice broke apart, sending a massive debris jet down the mountainside. In recent weeks, the mountain, which was carrying around 9 million tons of dust, had been ejecting the town’s 300 residents from the valley, which had been moving up an average of 11 feet per time. At a news conference on Wednesday, president Matthias Bellwald declared,” We’ve lost the settlement, but not the soul.” According to Stéphane Ganzer, a express chairman for Valais, 90 % of Blatten has been buried, according to authorities. The primary road connecting Blatten to the nearby town of Goppenstein has also been closed as a result of the death, preventing access for all but local people. Disaster teams are then carefully monitoring a blocked riverbed outside, which poses a substantial risk of snow jams and flooding. The disaster registered as a 3.1 scale earthquake. Authorities have requested help from the Swiss Army in the form of pumps and debris-clearing equipment but are not preventing additional evacuations. It is sad to drop a home, said Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter in a photo of the destruction. The damaged glacier loomed dangerously above Blatten, a lovely Alpine hamlet known for its quiet beauty and conventional farming lifestyle, in my mind.” A precarious wait and ongoing threats. Animals were evicted as cattle as the risk increased, including 52 cattle, sheep, and mice. The seriousness of the situation was highlighted by a commonly shared video of a calf being airlifted to security.
