Confinements, blocked trains and closed schools: abundant falls of spring snow caused strong disturbances in the Alps on Thursday, where the authorities call to remain vigilant in the face of the risk of avalanche even if the weather improves.
In France, a person was buried by a snow flow at the bottom of the Savoyard station of Val-Thorens, where they were found in cardiopuli arrest, before being evacuated to the Grenoble hospital center, according to the prefecture.
In Italy, where the weather services of the Air Force have reported “intense and abundant” rains turning into snow above 1,800 meters, an elderly man was found dead at his flooded home in the Piedmont, the Italian firefighters announced on X, the media specifying that he was 92 years old.
In Italy, the Piedmont region was affected by heavy rains, floods and mudslides. Here, in the city of Lauriano, near Turin. © Photo: AFP
The snowfall, which also fell on the canton of Valais in Switzerland, are not unusual in the Alps in April but they surprised the inhabitants by the very large quantities fallen, which were able to exceed a meter at altitude.
“It’s really exceptional”, notes Didier Beauchet, a retiree installed in Lanslebourg in Savoy for 40 years. Such quantities, “I had to see it five times,” he said, while around him motorists are busy to free their cars covered with snow.
“In such a short time, it’s huge,” adds Yann Geaudry, a former cross -country monitor installed in the neighboring village of Termignon who is now worried about “the risk of avalanche” because of the instability of the snowpack, then “the risk of flooding when it will melt”.
A fragile snowpack
Météo-France raised the orange alert to avalanches in the middle of the day, decreed the day before for Savoy, but continues to call for “the greatest caution” against the “strong” risk of avalanches (level 4 of 5) on all the Alpine departments on Friday.
The Swiss authorities, who had taken measures to easily deploy means of intervention, called on Thursday the population of the Valais canton to limit their trips and the city of Sion asked its 36,000 inhabitants to stay at home.
Several French stations have also confined their inhabitants and closed their ski area because of the risk of avalanche, which has reached the maximum level (5/5) in several massifs (Haute-Tarentaise, Haute-Maurienne, Vanoise).
Difficult weather conditions at the top of the Aravis pass, at the limit between Savoie and Haute-Savoie, in France. © Photo: AFP
Tignes raised his confinement on Thursday evening and should reopen his ski area on Friday “depending on the security of ski lifts”, but the return of good weather and heat will weaken the snowpack, warns the station, calling to respect the safety instructions.
These falls are due to a phenomenon known as “return of eastern”, caused by the humidity of the Pô plain in the north of Italy, which condenses in contact with the Alps and falls in the form of snow.
A strong wind
Many roads and tunnels have been cut in the affected areas of the three countries due to falling trees or risk of avalanches and schools remained closed all day. Access to the Mont Blanc tunnel has been prohibited for heavy goods vehicles.
Rail traffic is also affected and 3,000 French households remained electricity on Thursday at 6 p.m., according to the manager of the Enedis electricity network.
The highway connecting Turin to Aosta (North) was closed to traffic because partially flooded, while access to Milan parks was prohibited, a strong wind reaching in places up to 100 km/h whipping the peninsula.
In Italian Piedmont, the floods have done big damage. © Photo: AFP
In the Val d’Aosta, cross -border owner of France and Switzerland, homes and stables had to be evacuated due to the rise of certain rivers.
Snowfall has also been concerning the Pyrenean massif since Monday, but in less impressive volumes than in the Alps, around 20 to 30 cm, depending on the data communicated by local stations. These falls surprised some hikers, like these two students from La Rochelle rescued Wednesday by the gendarmes.
