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- In Ticino and Graubünden it continues to rain heavily. So far the most rain has been at Cevio in the Maggia valley, with a good 290 millimeters.
- The heavy rain started on Friday morning and lasted until Sunday night.
- The main focus of the heavy rains was on the Magadino plain until Saturday afternoon and has now shifted north of Ticino overnight on Sunday.
Right now there is a new line of storms coming from Varese crossing Ticino. In addition to the lightning and thunder, it returned to bring extreme amounts of rain in no time. At Monte Generoso, in southern Ticino, 25 millimeters of rain fell in 30 minutes. Such shock-like precipitation further destabilizes the slopes.
Sewer systems are also often overwhelmed by such brief extreme events. Before the storm line there were also gusts of wind, so in the Matro, either Biasca, with almost 90 kilometers per hour.
More rain in hours than usual in a month
Since Friday night, Ticino and Graubünden have faced massive and sustained rains. In some places, more rain fell in a few hours than in an entire month of August.
The most rain fell in Cevio with 286 millimeters of rain as of noon Sunday. So far it has also rained around 250 millimeters around Locarno and in the Onsernone valley. In the canton of Graubünden, the largest amount of rain fell on the Bernina Pass until Sunday morning. Now there are more than 200 millimeters. The southern valleys of Misox, Bergell and Puschlav were also particularly affected by heavy rains.
In places in the southern Glarus region and also in the St. Gallen Rhine Valley, large amounts of rain fell. In Braunwald, in the canton of Glarus, it has been 131 millimeters since Friday night, in Bad Ragaz, 114 millimeters.
Heavy rains have caused a rise in the water level in the rivers and lakes of Ticino, as well as in the central and eastern Alps. Several small rivers have temporarily overflowed. The level of Lake Lugano also rose rapidly, but without exceeding a critical threshold, as can be seen in the federal natural hazards bulletin.
The first floods and landslides occurred in Ticino on Friday, for example near Gandria on Lake Lugano, north of Bellinzona and near Madonna di Ponte. There was also a rockfall on Saturday morning on the road between Ilanz and Trun in Surselva.
Neighbors fight the mud on the streets of Cugnasco, in the Locarno district.
Keystone
As of Saturday noon, reports of damage increased. On Saturday the Malojapassstrasse had to be closed after the landslides, on Sunday morning the Lukmanierpassstrasse as well. On Saturday afternoon, a train collided with a landslide on Lake Maggiore. People were not harmed.
On Sunday there were landslides, especially in the Verzasca Valley, and the Maggia was flooded. In the canton of St. Gallen, the population was asked to stay away from the Rhine.
Readers’ images on online portals gave an impression of torrential rain: high rivers and streams, underwater streets and cars in the water, as well as roads that are no longer passable due to downed trees and landslides.
According to SRF Meteo, it continues to rain in much of Switzerland until Sunday night. Unlike on Fridays and Saturdays, higher amounts of rain should also be expected in the north.
In the next week, the situation will slowly ease, but individual downpours are still possible on both sides of the Alps, but the amount of precipitation remains relatively modest.
