At least seven people have died as a result of severe storms and heavy rains that struck France, Switzerland, and Italy over the past weekend.
Storms and heavy rains hit southern and western Switzerland on Saturday, June 29, and continued throughout the night. The hardest-hit areas were in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, on the southern side of the Alps. In the Fontana area of the Maggia Valley, near the town of Locarno, a significant landslide occurred. Police reported that the bodies of two people have been found and identified, while rescuers are searching for another missing person.
Campsites along the Maggia River were evacuated, and part of the small Visletto Bridge collapsed. Three other valleys in the region became inaccessible by road.
Further north, the Rhone River overflowed in several areas of the canton of Valais, flooding highways and railway lines. Some areas of the Valais canton were left without electricity and drinking water. A man was found dead in a hotel in Saas-Grund in the southwestern Valais region, likely caught off guard by a sudden flood.
Emergency teams also worked on evacuating 300 football tournament participants from Pecci and nearly 70 campers from Mognano.
In Italy, a state of emergency was declared on June 29 in the Aosta Valley and Piedmont. Storms, floods, landslides, catastrophic hail, and mudslides hit the region. In the Aosta Valley, the areas between Gran Paradiso, Matterhorn, and Monte Rosa were particularly affected. A landslide blocked the regional road to the popular ski resort of Cervinia, virtually isolating it from the outside world. About 300 people, including locals and tourists, were evacuated by helicopter from the Con Valley after the only connecting road was damaged by flooding.
In Piedmont, the Orco Valley was hit by a landslide that isolated the upper part of the valley and by severe hail (possibly the worst in the area in the past 70 years) with hailstones up to 3 inches in size that destroyed roofs and vehicles. In the town of Noasca in the upper Orco Valley, 5.43 inches of rain fell in just a few minutes. The river overflowed, flooding the access bridge and closing the main road. A local resident said, "The river was like a raging sea," with debris and mud everywhere. "This is a real disaster."
Floods and landslides were also reported in the municipality of Macugnaga, where the Tambach stream overflowed, causing flooding. The mayor urged tourists to leave the town as soon as possible to facilitate emergency intervention and then start recovery work. The town is in a critical situation. There is no drinking water. Traffic is difficult due to asphalt erosion on many roads.
In the Canavese area, in Busano, a probable downdraft wind with a speed of up to 75 mph tore off the roof of a house. Another landslide in the Lanzo Valley isolated the town of Usseglio. In the Verbano area, floods and landslides also destroyed roads. More than 500 people were evacuated on Sunday, June 30.
In recent years, Europe, as well as the rest of the world, has seen a sharp increase in the amount and intensity of precipitation, which in turn causes sudden and very powerful floods. According to data from the European Severe Weather Database (ESWD), there were 661 cases of abnormal precipitation recorded in Europe from 2000 to 2004, and from 2019 to 2023, there were 29,031. This means that abnormal precipitation events have become 44 times more frequent.
Scientists have proposed a technology that can quickly reduce the intensity of precipitation, thereby saving many lives. More details about this technology can be found in the documentary film: "Water From Air: The Path to Saving Humanity | Popular Science Film."