GENEVA (AP) 鈥 Swiss authorities on Monday expanded the evacuation of an Alpine village threatened by a possible landslide, ordering most of its people to leave.
More than 90 people on Saturday night from their homes in Blatten, in the L枚tschental 鈥 a valley above the larger Rhone valley in the southern Valais canton (state).
On Monday, authorities in Valais announced the complete evacuation of the village of some 300 people, with the exception of two areas, citing a risk of falling rocks and landslides. It wasn't immediately clear when residents would be able to return home.
Local official Matthias Ebener told public broadcaster SRF that 鈥渢he situation is very acute.鈥 There have been repeated small rockfalls in the area.
In 2023, residents of the village of Brienz in eastern Switzerland were evacuated before a slid down a mountainside, stopping just short of the settlement. Brienz was evacuated again because of the threat of a further rockslide.
