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GIAN EHRENZELLER
Both the sliding speed of the town and the mountainside have reached new highs, as announced on Monday by the Albula municipality, to which Brienz belongs.
The village, which sits on a terrace in the Albula Valley at 1,100 meters above sea level, now moves 1.3 meters into the valley each year. The mountain above it slides up to 8 meters per year. And the speed continues to increase in all measurement zones.
The municipality cites the thaw in recent weeks as the reason for the increase in sliding speeds. With the thaw underway, the pace could increase even further in the coming weeks.
The experts from the municipality and the canton do not expect a landslide, at least in the next few weeks. On the other hand, they do not rule out large demolitions of up to 10,000 cubic meters, the volume of several single-family homes. The settlement areas are not in danger, the community assured.
Development in the Albula Valley is being closely monitored by the cantonal early warning service, the message said. Among other things, another exploratory survey is underway. It is used to examine the area where the mountain landslide merges with the village landslide. A basic slip surface is expected to be found at a depth of 100 to 120 meters.
The cantonal government had already declared the situation in Brienz as a “special situation” in November 2019. It responded to a request for help from the Albula community and made extensive human and financial resources available.
Posted: March 8, 2021, 6:02 pm
Last Updated: March 8, 2021, 50 minutes ago
