The search continued on Saturday to find three people missing after heavy floods the day before in the south-east of Switzerland, while a woman was found alive in rock scree, according to the police in the canton of Grisons. Thunderstorms and very heavy rainfall caused floods and landslides in the Mesolcina valley, a mountain region, on Friday evening.
In the village of Sorte, three houses and three vehicles were swept away. “Intensive searches are underway to find the three people still missing. These people were probably at home at the time of the storm and swept away by the floodwaters,” cantonal police said in a statement. It concerns a couple and an elderly woman, according to Swiss media.
Several dozen residents evacuated
Several dozen residents had to be evacuated from their homes in this region as well as in the neighboring Calanca valley. But “most of them were able to return to their homes on Saturday morning”, according to the police. A woman, who had also been reported missing, was found alive, but injured, in falling rocks on Saturday morning and taken to hospital in Lugano. Due to the extensive damage in the area, police are asking residents not to travel to damaged areas and not to make unnecessary trips by vehicle.
The waves also swept away a police vehicle which was participating in search operations. “The two officers were able to exit the vehicle, which was underwater up to the roof, and swim to safety,” police said. In Lostallo, a hall was made available to people evacuated from their homes, a large number of whom were flooded by swollen rivers, according to the Swiss press agency Keystone-ATS.
Several towns in the region are without electricity and the water is not drinkable in several villages. Heavy rains have affected several regions of Switzerland in recent days. Several roads were cut and train lines interrupted. Swiss President Viola Amherd said she was “upset” by the extent of the damage. “My thoughts are with the affected population,” she wrote on Saturday on floods.
No trains have been running on the Visp-Zermatt line since Friday midday. A replacement bus service between Visp and Täsch is to be established in the evening, the railway company Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn announced on the X network. On the Täsch-Zermatt line, however, trains were to run again in the evening.