As of: March 11, 2024, 5:48 a.m
By: Johannes Welte
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It has been snowing almost non-stop in the Italian Alps for days.
In the Martell Valley near Meran (South Tyrol), an avalanche penetrated a street gallery.
Emergency services searched for victims with avalanche probes.
Meran/Turin - Winter has had the north of Italy firmly in its grip since the beginning of March.
The cause of the heavy snowfall is a low over the northern Mediterranean.
The air becomes full of water and flows north; it rains in the traffic jams of the Alps and snows in the mountains.
An avalanche has buried a street gallery in the Martelltal valley near Merano.
© South Tyrol State Fire Brigade Association/Facebook
Avalanche covers road in South Tyrol: Anxious hours of searching in the snow
In the rear Martell Valley, southwest of Meran, a violent avalanche occurred on Sunday afternoon (March 10th) at 3:59 p.m. between the Hotel Waldheim and the biathlon center.
The masses of snow penetrated a gallery on the main road leading through the valley, which is intended to protect actual road users from the masses of snow or falling rocks.
The snow piled up meters high.
Anxious hours followed as no one knew whether cars or even pedestrians had been buried in the gallery.
Firefighters used avalanche probes to poke through the white masses piece by piece.
Sniffer dogs were also used.
Firefighters use avalanche probes to search for buried victims in the gallery.
© South Tyrol State Fire Brigade Association/Facebook
“The emergency services immediately searched the affected section of road in the avalanche protection gallery, but fortunately no one was buried,” says a Facebook post from the South Tyrol State Fire Brigade Association.
In the evening it was said: “In the meantime, the gallery has been cleared enough so that vehicles can drive through out of the valley.
The road will then be closed for the time being.”
Avalanche in northern Italy: Entire valleys are cut off in the Aosta Valley
In the west of northern Italy the situation is even more tense.
In the Aosta Valley on the border with France and Switzerland, many roads are closed.
In the mountain village of Ceresole Reale, weather reporter Jacopo Zanoni from Meteo & Radar Italia measured almost two meters of snow on the roofs on Sunday.
The locals can't keep up with the snow blowers.
The power is temporarily out and telephone lines are also dead.
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In the Lystal on the Swiss border of the Aosta Valley, the towns of Gaby, Gressoney-Saint-Jean and Gressoney-La-Trinité have been closed off from the outside world for days; an avalanche had also buried a tunnel on the access road there.
On Sunday, mayors decided to temporarily open the street to allow residents and tourists to leave.
The schools were closed.
In other places there were curfews and evacuations.
On Sunday morning it was
In addition, the closure of the upper Valsavarenche at the foot of the Gran Paradiso was ordered to avert any danger in the event of an avalanche, and in the neighboring valley in Cogne, the closure of the two municipal roads to the towns of Lillaz and Valnontey was ordered.
The mayors of the affected places are asking locals and guests to stay in their houses and to keep windows and doors closed.
In Vorarlberg, two ski hikers were buried by an avalanche on Piz Buin on Saturday.
A skier died in an avalanche in Wales last week.