The village of Blatten with its approximately 300 residents had been evacuated about a week before the landslide, but one person, a man in his 60s, is still reported missing, reports Blick.
According to rescue personnel, the entire village is believed to be destroyed – what was not buried in the landslide is now underwater since a lake has formed from the valley's watercourse.
The army has still not been able to work in the area due to the risk of new landslides.
As a precaution, two smaller communities have now been evacuated.
A resident of one of the villages being evacuated says he has gotten over the initial shock.
Now we need to minimize the risk for the residents as quickly as possible. We hope that the army, civil defense, or maybe the river itself will dig through the three-kilometer-long pile so that the lake doesn't grow bigger, says Ton Franken to Blick.
Switzerland's glaciers, heavily affected by climate change, melted as much between 2022 and 2023 as between 1960 and 1990.
