Yesterday (May 28th), the town of Blatten in Lötschental was inundated by the massive collapse of the Birch Glacier.
It struck the village of Blatten around 3:30 PM, with millions of cubic meters of ice, rock, snow, and mud crashing into the town, burying most of it under debris.
The disaster was described as a “worst-case scenario” by local authorities, with Mayor Matthias Bellwald stating, “We have lost our village.”
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Villagers Evacuated
Fortunately, the village’s 300 residents had been evacuated on May 19 due to warnings from geologists about the glacier’s instability, preventing a significant loss of life.
However, sadly one person remains missing, and search efforts involving dogs are underway.
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Further Issues?
The collapse blocked the Lonza River, causing a lake to form and flood the few remaining buildings.
This has raised concerns about potential further flooding in downstream villages, such as Wiler and Kippel, where some evacuations have occurred as a precaution.
Can It Happen Elsewhere?
The Swiss authorities keep a close eye on unstable mountains like this, which is why they were able to warn the residents. It is rarely a surprise when things like this happen, unless it is caused by a flash flood like in Brienz last summer.
Geologists and experts, such as those from ETH Zurich, use data from monitoring systems to issue warnings.
In fact, in Blatten, geologists detected cracks and rapid glacier movement, prompting the evacuation of 300 residents on May 19, 2025, before the collapse on May 28.
Websites such as GLAMOS are used to monitor glaciers.
