When the tide comes – Seniorweb Switzerland

Two Swiss mountain communities called Brienz are currently living with disasters: In Brienz in Graubünden, the debris flow from the rock fall is right on the doorstep. In Brienz in the Bernese Oberland, floods of water and rock collapses have devastated parts of the town. Seniorweb visited someone affected here.

My sister-in-law Claire-Lise Vuilleumier has lived in the Bernese Oberland in Brienz for just over forty years. She lived near the Glyssibach when it caused a flood disaster in 2005, killing two people. She herself was evacuated, but her house was spared. The houses in the directly affected area were demolished – the stream needs its space – even if it is usually a small stream.

The Milibach Falls above Brienz in the Bernese Oberland is a postcard idyll.

Claire-Lise later moved to one of the houses further west in Brienz on the lower reaches of the Milibach. That too is actually harmless. The waterfall high up in the mountain looks picturesque. But the Milibach can also rage. As early as 2014, it thundered down to the cantonal road and the lake in a thick slurry of water and mud with boulders weighing tons, leaving devastation in its wake. The cleanup took a long time. The community brought in experts who lowered the stream bed and secured it with high walls, and a huge collecting basin was also built further up the mountain.

On the evening of August 12, 2024, the waterfall thundered down again under a haze, spreading out and forming two more waterfalls on the right side. What was happening on the mountain was not clearly visible from below.

This summer, ten years later, the Milibach raged again, this time much worse. He demonstrated his power and flooded the security structures built ten years ago. Claire-Lise called me worriedly on August 12, 2024 around 7 p.m. and let me hear the intense rushing of the stream through the receiver. She didn't yet know what to expect.

The Milibach violently takes over its space, meadows, houses, streets, everything is flooded.

She actually wanted to go away with a friend that evening, but because of the rain they didn't. And the rain became more and more intense, the stream more and more powerful. From the terrace she saw how quickly the water filled the stream bed and overflowed its banks. In no time, the street next to it was a raging torrent. In addition, there was also masses of water from the cemetery opposite, where the graves were flooded. As a passionate photographer, Claire-Lise got the camera because she couldn't describe it to anyone in words. After the first flood of water, additional mud, large stones, tree trunks, boards and pieces of furniture followed, which were carried away from the houses above.

The first flood of water was followed by large stones, boulders and tree trunks from the mountain, as well as pieces of wood from the houses higher up. The cantonal road down next to the lake became a river itself.

And Claire-Lise, wasn't she afraid in the middle of this deluge? It was strange, she says, “I was like an audience member in a theater, I felt safe and something really bad was happening outside. Others had to fear for their lives and I was never afraid. The rescue called me and told me I had to leave immediately. But it was far too dangerous to go out onto the flooded street. The only way out would have been via the back terrace and the church wall to the children's graves next to the church. But I couldn’t do it alone.” She packed her backpack and the rescue team then led her over the church's perimeter wall, which would have been far too risky for her alone. “It's not a problem when you're young,” she said, “but when you get older it's no longer possible.”

To be rescued, Claire-Lise had to climb from the wooden balcony onto the church wall. Between the steeply sloping roof and the hedge, a rescuer walking backwards led her by the hands until she was on safe ground next to the church. From there we went to the school gymnasium for evacuation.

The next day the sun shone as if nothing had happened. The removal of the material began immediately on the cantonal road at the lake. The stream had also created new entrances to the lake here. Further up, some houses were completely filled with stones and boulders. A few donkeys were able to free themselves from a stable and escaped to the highest point of the pasture. Fortunately, the residents were not present.

Many houses are damaged and in danger of collapsing. They are secured now, but what happens to them will not be decided until next spring.

Many houses along the stream are badly damaged and uninhabitable. Some of them are supported so that they don't collapse, but people are not allowed to move back in. Next spring a decision will be made about what will happen to the buildings. In the meantime, those affected live in holiday apartments. But if they rent out, they have to move to the next available holiday apartment. There are families who have already moved three or four times since the end of August. But everyone is grateful that they survived. There were only two slightly injured people.

The man in conversation with Claire-Lise says that he has already had to change his replacement apartment four times. He hopes to be able to return to his own home as soon as possible. And yet he keeps saying, “It is what it is” and emphasizes how lucky they all were that no one died.

Claire-Lise was lucky. The wooden house in which she lives is in the lower area near the cantonal road and stands on a stone base. A concrete ramp leads to the entrance. This had already protected the house during the flood ten years ago and now again. The water probably splashed up the sloping ramp, but also flowed back down, leaving a thick layer of mud behind. Only the basement with the heating oil tank filled with 130 centimeters of mud. But the tank and the house remained intact.

Now in November the waterfall has hardly any water. Dark yellowish marks are visible where part of the rock face broke off. 60,000 cubic meters of rock, stone and tree trunks came down, which the collecting basin built ten years ago, which was designed for 12,000 cubic meters, was only able to contain part of it. And yet it saved Brienz from an even greater catastrophe with deaths and injuries.

Claire-Lise spent three weeks during the evacuation with friends. She feels guilty towards those affected because her home was spared. She was allowed to return, while many still have to stay abroad. Next spring, after extensive clarification, the community will decide whether houses need to be demolished to give the Milibach the space it so vehemently demands.

The Milibach currently has hardly any water, it probably needs to recover. The trees survived.

When asked why she doesn't move away from Brienz, where the mountains can be dangerous for people at any time, Claire-Lise says: “I've become at home here. We know each other, we help each other. I am firmly rooted here like the trees down next to the stream, which can withstand the wind and have survived the flood disasters.”

Cover photo: Claire-Lise Vuilleumier on the terrace next to the Brienz church.
Photos: Claire-Lise Vuilleumier and rv

The knowledge magazine “Einstein” on SRF 1 reports with detailed background information on the storm disaster in Brienz BE. You can find the link here.