Swiss Communities on Alert After Massive Landslide

After the crash in the Lötschental, two other municipalities were asked to prepare for an evacuation. Matthias Ebener, spokesman for the Regional Executive Staff, is "cautiously optimistic" in the F.A.Z. interview.

Residents of the Swiss Alpine valley of Lötschental, which was hit by a massive avalanche on Wednesday after a glacier collapsed, are preparing to evacuate. The biggest threat to the lower parts of the valley is the current rise of the river behind the landslide.

Swiss communities on alert after massive landslide

Residents in the Lötschental valley have been asked to prepare for evacuation. It comes after Wednesday's glacier collapse dumped millions of cubic meters of ice, rock and mud.

Residents of the Swiss Alpine valley of Lötschental, which was hit by a massive avalanche on Wednesday after a glacier collapsed, are preparing to evacuate. The biggest threat to the lower parts of the valley is currently the rising river behind the landslide, German news agency DPA reports.

Residents of the Swiss Alpine valley of Lötschental, which was hit by a massive avalanche on Wednesday after a glacier collapsed, are preparing to evacuate. The biggest threat to the lower parts of the valley is currently the rising river behind the landslide, reports the German news agency dpa.

Flooding is threatening after a massive avalanche of ice and rocks plunged into a mountain valley in the Swiss canton of Valais on Wednesday, caused by the collapse of a glacier that almost completely buried the previously evacuated village of Blatten. The avalanche blocked the flow of the Lonza River, creating an artificial lake above Blatten that is rapidly expanding. If the water overflowed the debris, it could create a tidal wave that would …