At least four dead, 1 missing in southern Switzerland floods

BERN: At least four people have died and one is missing in the flooding in southern Switzerland, reported CNN, citing local police and Swiss state media.

Three people, however, have been killed in a landslide in the Maggia Valley, Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported. Switzerland’s Valais canton police said that another man was found dead in a hotel in Saas-Grund, adding that initial findings suggested he could have been taken by surprise by the rapidly rising waters, as reported by CNN.

Moreover, a search has been going on for a 52-year-old man who has been missing in the village of Binn since Saturday evening, Valais Cantonal Police said in a press release Sunday. The public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the case of the missing man in Binn and the man found dead in Saas-Grund, police added.

The floods are a result of a rapid increase in water levels of several rivers, including the Rhone, caused by storms and melting snow, the police stated in the press release. They further said that the flooding has also caused debris flows and numerous road closures, CNN reported.

The river Rhone overflowed in several places causing hundreds of people in the Canton of Valais to be evacuated, according to a local government statement. The statement further read that “major damage” had also been reported in the valleys near the Rhone River in Upper Valais. Following the flooding, the Valais canton said that it called on the army to provide further support.

Meanwhile, in France, the department of Haute-Saone, which is near the border with Switzerland, was also hit with strong storms overnight. “Last night, Haute-Saone was hit by violent storms with intense rainfall and strong gusts of wind”, the local government said in a post on X. (ANI)