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1000 people have been evacuated after the rapid clay landslide at Ask in Gjerdrum on the night of January 30.
Police have announced that they are currently assessing the status of the rescue operation and whether more people should be evacuated or if someone can move home.
One of the evacuees is Berit Lian Berntzen (57) and her family. They were among 46 people who were evacuated from the area by the Kokstad farm on Thursday, about 2 kilometers north of the Ask landslide.
Thrown in the car
Berntzen laughed a bit when police called her shortly before 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
She works as a home nurse and was about to finish her shift with the evacuated users at the Olavsgaard Hotel.
– I must admit that I felt a little palpitations and panic, says Berntzen on TV 2.
EVACUATED: Berit Lian Berntzen is one of around 1,000 people who have been evacuated after the Gjerdrum landslide. Photo: Private
He immediately called his youngest son (18) and asked him to put his little nine-week-old puppy in the car and get out.
Now they are all gathered at the Clarion Hotel in Gardermoen along with the other evacuees and wondering when they will be allowed to return home.
– We always knew there was unsafe terrain here, but now, in the future, we are probably safer than ever after the experts have drilled and verified the entire area. When NVE finally says it is safe to move home again, we fully trust him, says Berntzen, who hopes and believes it will be over the weekend.
But she thinks that Gjerdrum will never be the same again after this.
– It is a small community where everyone knows someone who has disappeared or lost a house and a home. Gjerdrum will never be the same again, because there are so many missing, he says.
Basic surveys
The Norwegian Directorate for Water Resources and Energy (NVE), together with NGI and Multiconsult, assist emergency services with professional advice on when some of the evacuees can return.
Toril Hofshagen, regional director in the eastern region of NVE. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB
On Friday afternoon, the regional manager Toril Hofshagen in the Eastern Region in NVE says that at the moment it is not relevant to evacuate more.
– What we are working on to help the police now are ground investigations and geotechnical calculations to see if we can make professional recommendations on restrictions of evacuated areas, that is, that we can report areas as safe, he tells TV 2.
NVE has three drilling rigs within the evacuated areas.
– They work intensively with the necessary investigations on the ground to obtain additional information to what we already know about the area, in order to determine which areas are considered safe and stable, and where it can be recommended to eventually cancel the evacuation, and also to better define those areas . he will probably have to be evacuated for a longer period of time, she says.
Landslide in avalanche pit
It’s unclear when it will be relevant to allow evacuees to back down.
– Right now, as the police have also said, there is a full focus on the ongoing rescue work, so it is now the first priority, he says.
MOVEMENTS: There have been several small landslides along the edge of the landslide area. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB
Get information
To “report on healthy areas” so evacuees can return home, a lot needs to be done.
The work, which NVE is in process, is about gaining better knowledge about the evacuated areas. This is done, among other things, by reviewing everything that is available from previous ground-based research.
It’s about decades of material.
NVE: There is no increased risk of landslides in other parts of the municipality.
– There are earth studies dating back to 1970 and many of more recent date, so we have worked to get all the information about earth studies from various sources and compile this, and look at what we know and don’t know enough says Hofshagen.
In addition, a drilling plan has been made based on where it is believed that there is a need for further knowledge.
On Thursday afternoon, NVE advised police to evacuate another area north of central Ask, due to the cracks observed in the area.
NVE has inspected them and will be conducting field drilling and additional area assessments to assess whether the evacuation should continue and, if so, for how long.
