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The low “Brigitte” brought heavy rains in the south and foehn with hurricane gusts in the north over Switzerland on Saturday. In the canton of Uri, the Reuss overflowed its banks in several places. The damage is limited.
On Saturday night it rained heavily. As a result, the Reuss overflows its banks near Seedorf in the canton of Uri, as the following video shows:
According to the Uri canton police, the Reuss flood alarm was activated in Seedorf at midnight. Since then, several Uri fire departments have been busy protecting buildings from flooding, repairing storm and water damage, and putting barriers into operation. The situation had worsened again on Saturday morning after a temporary improvement. The Reuss flooded its banks in various places between Attinghausen and Seedorf. Thanks to the flood concept, damage to buildings was largely avoided. Investments in flood protection have proven to be very effective, said the Uri canton police. No one was injured. According to Manuela Hobi, media spokesperson for the Uri canton police, this flood is roughly comparable to what happened in 1987. The flood had been directed on the A2 motorway so that the Reuss did not flow into the villages. That worked fine.
A2 motorway closed
Police closed the A2 motorway between Beckenried and Erstfeld in both directions until Saturday night. The road was under water. Transit traffic was diverted onto A13, San Bernardino.
The motorway service station on the St. Gotthard route and the heavy traffic hub in Erstfeld had to be evacuated on Saturday night. The police woke up 120 truckers and asked them to continue to Ticino.
Due to the highway closure, the cantonal roads between Flüelen and Erstfeld were overloaded. The police recommended driving around the canton of Uri. The cantonal road between Hospental and Realp was also closed. All the Uri alpine passes were closed until Sunday morning.
There were also inconveniences in the rail traffic early in the morning on Saturday. The Furka car transport company had to cease operations because a landslide spilled the road between Realp and Hospental.
Landammann is impressed with the work
Landammann Urban Camenzind was impressed by the performance of the emergency services at the request of our newspaper. “The building authority, police, and community fire departments have done a very good job,” the governing council said Saturday night. The situation this Saturday is comparable to that of 1987, when massive floods occurred in the canton of Uri. Due to this and the storms of 2005, the canton of Uri invested 160 million Swiss francs in flood protection measures. “These have now paid off.” It is currently too early to say whether further action is needed. You can still optimize certain processes. “But in terms of function, everything worked satisfactorily,” says Camenzind. However, he is not satisfied with the evaluation of some media. “In the morning it seemed as if the entire canton of Uri was under water. Our emergency services always had the situation under control. Various institutions such as the fire brigade were prepared for such an operation through exercises and training.
Landslide at Engelberg
According to Obwalden Canton Police, there has been minor storm damage in Engelberg. Falling trees would have clogged some smaller side streets, a stream overflowed. But they are “trifles”, as the police say. In the other cantons of central Switzerland, the weather situation remained calm, as a survey by the canton police showed.
