A Swiss mountain village was partially flattened by a massive deluge of ice, rock, and mud on Wednesday, and while the mayor of Blatten says the village still has a future, it's not clear whether residents will ever be able to return. Wooden buildings were destroyed and large parts of the village in southwest Switzerland were buried after a chunk of a glacier in the Swiss Alps above it broke off, reports Reuters. Blatten's 300 residents were evacuated last week because of landslide fears. One person is missing, according to Matthias Ebener, a spokesperson for local authorities. "An unbelievable amount of material thundered down into the valley," Ebener says. Video of the collapse shows a huge cloud of dust rising.
The BBC describes Blatten's fate as "the worst nightmare for communities across the Alps," where climate change is making glaciers unstable. "The unimaginable has happened," says Matthias Bellwald, the village's mayor. "We have lost our village, but not our heart. We will support each other and console each other. After a long night, it will be morning again." Last week, Bellwald praised the community's solidarity in an evacuation effort that included the rescue of 190 sheep, 26 cows, and around 20 rabbits, the AP reports. One injured cow was taken away by a helicopter. In 2023, another Swiss mountain village was evacuated. The rock slide that geologists had predicted ended up missing Brienz by a few feet. (More landslide stories.)
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