The village of Disentis, in eastern Switzerland, was cut off from the world on Monday after a snowfall interrupted rail traffic and made roads impassable.
Neither by road nor by train. The town can no longer be reached either by train or by road, told AFP Robert Cajacob, president of this town of 2,200 inhabitants, which currently also hosts "several hundred tourists." He hoped that the situation would evolve by Tuesday.
Other sections affected. After heavy snowfall in recent days, other railway sections have been cut in eastern Switzerland due to high avalanche risk, Swiss Railways (SBB) said. Trains to the upmarket Davos, which is scheduled to host the World Economic Forum next week, have been abolished for an indefinite period, according to SBB. Replacement buses, however, circulate.
"Exceptional" avalanches still awaited. Since Saturday evening, 60 to 90 cm of fresh snow fell on a part of the alpine massif, according to MeteoSwiss, which still expects 30 to 50 cm of snow on the central and eastern part of the northern slopes of the Alps by Tuesday morning . A very strong avalanche danger prevails in some areas of the Swiss Alps, warned Monday the Institute for the study of snow and avalanches (SLF) which expects avalanches "exceptional" and carried the risk to highest level (5 for "very strong") in several regions of Switzerland. For a large area, this degree was last reached in January 2018 and earlier in the winter of 1999.
In the north-east of the country, there had already been exceptional snowfall in the last two weeks. Snow depths often reach one and a half to twice the usual amount at this time of year, according to the SLF.