[ad_1]
Heavy rains in central Switzerland cause streams to overflow their banks. The A2 motorway between Beckenried NW and Erstfeld UR had to be closed early on Saturday morning due to flooding. Rail traffic was also restricted early Saturday morning.
(sda)
In Seedorf, the Reuss flood alarm went off at midnight, as announced by the Uri and Nidwalden cantonal police on request. Since then, various fire departments in the canton of Uri have been busy protecting buildings from floods, repairing storm and water damage and putting barriers into operation.
The police blocked the A2 motorway between Beckenried and Erstfeld in both directions, as the road between Seedorf and Attinghausen in the canton of Uri is under water. The canton road in the Pfaffensprung area between Gurtnellen and Wassen is closed.
Lockdown until at least Saturday afternoon
The closure of the A2 must last in both directions until at least Saturday afternoon. Transit traffic, especially heavy traffic, will be diverted in both directions via the A13 San Bernadino route, the Uri cantonal police said in a statement early Saturday morning.
The motorway service station on the Gotthard route and the heavy traffic hub in Erstfeld should have been evacuated, a spokesman said on request. It’s still raining a lot.
Heavy rains also in Ticino
In Ticino, too, it is currently coming out of buckets. According to SRF Meteo, it has rained more in the last 24 hours than usual for all of October. For example, in Mosogno 305 millimeters of rain fell. Otherwise, in Ticino and neighboring areas, there was in some cases more than 100 millimeters of precipitation.
Rail traffic interruptions
There were also snags in the rail traffic early in the morning on Saturday, as the rail traffic information showed. Traffic between Meiringen and Interlaken Ost in the canton of Bern was interrupted due to flooding. It was unclear how long the outage would last. Due to the danger of flooding, the route between Münster VS and Andermatt UR was also interrupted indefinitely.
Due to the flooding in Simplon VS, rail traffic between Brig VS and Domodossola (IT) is also interrupted. Traveling to Italy is only possible via the St. Gotthard, writes SBB. The trains are already being used to capacity “very well” due to many reservations.
