Bad weather forces the City of Bern to declare a state of alert on the banks of the Aare

Bad weather forces the City of Bern to declare a state of alert on the banks of the Aare

Firefighters and police officers were kept busy this weekend. In the cantons of Bern and Lucerne, in particular, they had to intervene on numerous occasions following floods and landslides.

In Bern, a state of alert was even declared yesterday on the banks of the Aare.

The river's flow rate exceeded 374 cubic meters per second at the Schönau measuring station in the federal city. This value is nine units above the critical level. Authorities mobilized firefighters and some Civil Protection personnel shortly after midnight on Saturday.

Residents of the capital were also alerted by text message to report any overflowing or beginning of flooding. They were also asked to move any threatened items to a safe place.

Sandbags, beams, and pipes were placed in the most exposed areas. Despite this, part of the riverbank in the Altenberg district was flooded.

Also in the canton of Bern, the main road between Interlaken and Spiez was cut off by a landslide shortly before 11 p.m. on Saturday, but was reopened to traffic on Sunday. Landslides occurred a few kilometers away in Goldiwil near Thun and in Langnau.
Explosion of statistics

Rail traffic on the Brünig line, which had been interrupted for hours, was restored on Sunday afternoon. The line had been cut by a landslide between Kaiserstuhl and Giswil.

The Lucerne countryside also experienced a turbulent night: 55 liters of water per square meter fell overnight in the Napf region, according to MeteoSwiss.

After three days of heavy rain, some regions have already received twice as much rain as normal this July, such as Interlaken, with 287 liters instead of 128. The Napf region received 283 liters, compared to 170 for a normal July. (ats/ap)

As in England, we can ask ourselves the question about global climate change and the possible consequences with the rainfall record.