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- It rains heavily in Ticino, Graubünden and also in northeastern Switzerland. The highest rainfall so far 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 focus of rainfall has shifted over the weekend from the Magadino plain to the north of Ticino. Since Saturday night, the banks of the Rhine in the canton of St. Gallen have also been affected by heavy rains.
A new storm line from Varese has crossed 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.
More rain in hours than usual in a month
Since Friday night, Ticino and Graubünden and since Sunday also the banks of the Rhine in the canton of St. Gallen 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.
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. There were landslides, especially in the Verzasca Valley, and the Maggia was flooded.
The Rhine will probably overflow its banks
In the canton of St. Gallen, the footpaths and cycle paths along the Rhine from Diepoldsauer Rheinbrücke to Lake Constance were closed for safety reasons, as announced by the international regulation of the Rhine on Saturday evening.
As Daniel Dietsche of SRF Rhine’s construction management reports, authorities expect the Rhine to flood the promontory near Au at around 4 p.m. The peak of the flood is expected between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
The population is asked not to be near the Rhine in order not to hinder a possible deployment of the Rhine company and the fire brigades.
Relaxation next week
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.
