The Rhône and other rivers coming out of their beds, flooded districts, cut valleys and large damage, Valais had been undergoing its worst floods a year ago since 2000 and a person was losing their lives in Saas-Gundund. About at the same time, sudden floods were also eight dead in Ticino.
During this night of June 29 to 30, important bad weather fell on the canton of Valais while the snow has not yet completely melted at altitude. As a result, several rivers see their flow increase suddenly until overflowing in places.
Below, in the plain, the Rhône also comes out of its bed in several places, flooding entire neighborhoods. The flow of the river broke historical records in several measurement stations. The damage across the canton is very important and the bill reaches several hundred million francs.
>> The floods in Sierre in 2024 views of the sky. ::
![The floods in Sierre seen from the sky. [RTS - Romain Boisset]](https://img.rts.ch/articles/2024/image/f0thjd-28555442.image?mw=1280 "The floods in Sierre seen from the sky. [RTS - Romain Boisset]")
>> Reread live follow -up of these floods: A dead in a torrential lava in Saas-Grund, the level of the Rhône down after a historic flood et The alarm is lifted and the highway reopened in Valais after the bad weather
Big damage in Sierre
The Rhône notably sowed devastation in the Sierre-Chippis region. In a few moments, the 150 residents of the Sub-Geronde district in Sierre saw their lives switch. Evacuated in an emergency, they will never return to them.
The river also floods one of the economic lungs in the region: the two factories specializing in novelis and constellium aluminum are underwater, mud and silt. Particles of ultra fine rocks are embedded in the machines and everything is destroyed, or almost. Businesses will take months to restart their activities.
>> Review the subject of 7:30 p.m. on damage to Sion:
Several areas located along the river are also evacuated, including the Sion campsite and more downstream the Eagle Industrial Zone (VD). Rail traffic is interrupted between Sierre and Brig and the A9 motorway is closed between Sion-Ouest and Sierre-Est. Many secondary roads are also impassable.
A dead in Saas-Grund
In the side valleys, nature is also unleashed, especially in the SaaS and Zermatt valleys, but also in the Val d’Anniviers. The floods overflow and roads are cut. In Saas-Gundund, a torrential lava falls on the Eden hotel and destroyed everything, killing a client trapped in the basement. The access roads to the village remain closed for several days.
Since these events, disasters seem to follow one another in Valais: still landslides in SaaS-Grund in the spring, then the recent landslides that cut the high val de Bagnes and especially the destruction of the village of Blatten a month ago, after the collapse of the glacier which overlooked the locality.
“With global warming, it is likely that such events occur more frequently in the future in the alpine space,” said Andreas Hüni, University of Zurich last week. Scientists now seek to develop methods to prevent and announce such dramas.
>> Review the report from 7:30 p.m. to Saas-Grund last year:
Tonight, Forum offers you a special page live from Sierre to come back to these bad weather and the flood of the Rhône which had touched the canton.
Radio subjects: Emilien Verdon and Nicole Della Pietra
Web text: Frédéric Boillat
