Keystone-SDA
(Keystone-ATS) Residents evacuated from Brienz (BE) will be able to visit their homes for 15 minutes with firefighters. This visit was initially canceled on Saturday morning due to persistent rain.
Only authorized and marked buildings may be entered, as specified by the Regional Control Body (ORC) of Lake Brienz to the Keystone-ATS agency. The situation around Milibach is under control, but rain is expected to continue until Sunday evening.
More than 150 volunteers are at work in Brienz during the weekend. Machines work to clean the stream bed and compensate for weak points in the temporary protection system. The aim is to make the water flow in a straight line to Lake Brienz. The Lambach, Gleisibach and Trechtbach streams are also under surveillance.
Six Forbidden Houses
Last Monday a storm wreaked havoc in this village in the Bernese Oberland. About 70 people had to be evacuated. There were no casualties due to the bad weather: only two people were injured.
Six houses marked with a red cross in the village are in danger of collapse and are therefore forbidden to enter. Thirty others were more or less severely damaged. The debris in the flooded Anderdorf district has risen by about five metres.
In 2005, the village in the Bernese Oberland was heavily damaged by bad weather. Since then, important protective measures have been taken, including the construction of an alluvial dump on the Mühlebach stream.