Storm - Thunderstorms and flooding in Switzerland again
Thunderstorms and heavy rain caused flooding in Switzerland, in Basel, Geneva and the canton of Vaud at Lake Geneva. In the canton of Basel-Landschaft south of Basel city, the police received several hundred reports of flooded basements, power outages and other water damage on Tuesday evening. The situation had calmed down by Wednesday. In canton Vaud, the fire department was called out more than 200 times. In the city of Morges, the river of the same name caused flooding, which was statistically not expected to occur every hundred years, according to the police. No one was injured.
In Geneva, the flight operations were halted for two hours due to heavy thunderstorms and heavy rain. Flooding at the airport affected the cooling room for servers in the Skyguide building. To prevent overheating of the control systems, the airspace was briefly closed around 10:00 pm. Approximately 50 take-off and landing procedures had to be cancelled. Overnight, temporary beds and food were provided for around 100 passengers. On Wednesday, the departures of the machines that could not land on Tuesday evening were cancelled. However, there were no major damages and the operations were running normally again, said a spokesperson for the airport.
In Graubünden, a landslide caused by heavy rainfall last week swept away three houses and destroyed a part of the A13 autobahn, an important Alpine connection. A woman was rescued from the debris and a man was found dead. The whereabouts of the other two are still unknown.
- The thunderstorms and heavy rain, similar to those in Basel, Geneva, and the canton of Vaud, temporarily halted air traffic in Geneva, causing flooding at the airport and affecting the cooling room for servers in the Skyguide building.
- In addition to the flooding incidents in various locations across Switzerland, a storm-induced landslide in Graubünden disrupted transportation, destroying a part of the A13 autobahn and sweeping away three houses, with two individuals still missing.
