Flooding in Switzerland
Heavy rainfall has caused severe flooding in parts of Switzerland. Trees have been blown onto roads and rail tracks in Zurich, causing travel chaos for commuters.
A warning issued to citizens has stated that several rivers could burst their banks, while some Alpine passes were temporarily closed due to heavy snowfall.
More than four centimetres of rain fell on Zurich overnight on Monday 12 July 2021 and over 3.1 centimetres of rain fell in just 10 minutes on nearby Waldegg, according to broadcaster SRF.
Officials in the de facto capital, Bern, are preparing for possible flooding by installing floating dams. The country's meteorological services have warned that further rain is forecast, and also urged caution of potential landslides.
Authorities near Lake Lucerne, Lake Geneva, and Lake Zurich have also issued alerts for local residents and shipping companies. Lake Lucerne, in particular, is at a very high risk of flooding, warned MeteoSchweiz.
- Type of event
- Flood
- Location of event
- Switzerland
- Date of Charter Activation
- 2021-07-15
- Time of Charter Activation
- 19:45
- Time zone of Charter Activation
- UTC+02:00
- Charter Requestor
- SwissTopo on behalf of Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP
- Activation ID
- 720
- Project Management
- Swiss Federal Office of Topography
- Value Adding
- -