Screen capture of a video showing the landslide in the Maurienne valley in the French Alps (UGC/AFP/Jules Boutrand)
A spectacular rockslide in the Maurienne valley (Savoie) after a heat wave followed by heavy rains led to a suspension of rail traffic and heavy goods vehicles on a major axis between France and northern Italy.
The return to normal could take several days, according to the authorities, and the sector remained under surveillance Monday pending the clearing.
Sunday around 5:15 p.m., “several blocks of rock representing a volume of around 700 m3” hit the protective screen installed on the RD 1006, in a “particularly monitored sector” in the town of Saint-André, in La Praz, explained the prefecture of Savoy in a press release.
The landslide occurred during a “rainy episode with significant runoff which followed a heatwave episode in all the Alps”, explained Denis Roy, head of the Northern Alps mountain center of Météo France.
On images broadcast on social networks, we can see a large plume of dust falling from a cliff and falling on the departmental road adjoining the railway line and the A43 motorway below.
Fortunately, the RD 1006 had been closed half an hour before the landslide after a “unit block fall”, told AFP Jean-Philippe Laplanche, departmental director of infrastructure. The department was on storm yellow alert and we are “very vigilant about this type of event” which can affect infrastructure, he said, stressing that these phenomena “are accelerating with climate change”.
The circulation of trains on the Chambéry-Turin line was interrupted, as was that of TER in the Maurienne valley, said the SNCF.
“It’s closed at least until Wednesday inclusive” but we “expect it to last longer,” SNCF told AFP. Trenitalia also announced the cancellation of its connections between Modane and Paris until Wednesday included.
“Access to the site is still prohibited by the prefecture because there is still a risk of a landslide. As soon as we can access it, we will be able to establish a diagnosis” by geologists from the prefecture and the DDE, to check the risks” then “check the damage”, added the SNCF, then specifying that an overflight of the area by helicopter had to be canceled because of the weather conditions.
– Weather “conducive” to landslides –
In addition to the departmental road, closed to all traffic between the RD 1006 / RD 215 intersection and the Freney interchange, the A43 has also been closed between ramps 29 and 30 in both directions for an indefinite period, “the time of clear the debris that was deposited on the highway following this landslide” according to the prefecture.
A diversion has been put in place for light vehicles. The Fréjus cross-border road tunnel has been closed for vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, heavy goods vehicles and coaches have been invited to “go through the Mont-Blanc tunnel or the A8 motorway”, notes the prefecture.
The French concession company Autoroutes et Tunnel du Mont-Blanc (ATMB) noted there at midday a 2h15 wait at the toll on the French side and 3h00 on the Italian side.
“This succession of hot weather followed by heavy rains” may have caused the instability of the rock, explains Serge Taboulot, president of the Institute of Major Risks in Grenoble, recalling the series of landslides that have occurred in recent days in the high mountains.
“The mountain has always crumbled, but there are times that are more favorable than others, like this somewhat unusual heat wave,” he added.
After ten days marked by an exceptional heat wave, Savoie is, like Haute-Savoie and Isère, on yellow rain-flood alert. Up to 40mm of rainfall is expected in the cumulative area of the landslide on Monday and “at this time, the risk is still present”, the prefecture told AFP at midday.
On July 2, 2019, a torrential lava flow of 1,000 m3 had buried the rails for 60 meters, at the level of Saint-Michel de Maurienne, causing the interruption of France-Italy rail traffic via Modane for three weeks.
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© 2023 AFP
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