General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAlps glacier collapse fear: Courmayeur evacuated as huge chunk of ice threatens to break away
An Italian resort in the Alps remained on high alert on Friday over fears a massive glacier could collapse due to high temperatures.
The municipality of Courmayeur in the Valley of Aosta ordered dozen of residents and tourists to evacuate from a large exclusion zone on Wednesday because of a high risk of avalanche. Several roads have been closed and pedestrian access is strictly prohibited.
snip
Local officials said in an order decree that a chunk of ice of approximately 500,000 cubic metres is on the verge of breaking away from the Planpincieux Glacier.
The glacier is "the size of Milan cathedral or a football pitch covered in ice 80 metres (260 feet) thick" according to an official. It could break free of its perch about 2,600 to 2,800 metres above sea level.
https://www.euronews.com/2020/08/06/alps-glacier-collapse-fear-courmayeur-evacuated-as-huge-chunk-of-ice-threatens-to-break-aw
DFW
(54,047 posts)My wife left back for Germany a week ago from Boston, and she said that yesterday they had temperatures of 37° (about 100°F). We're in the lower Rheinland (Düsseldorf area), and the Alps are a couple of hundred miles to the south of us.
no_hypocrisy
(45,770 posts)The theme was irony.
A similar small town was threatened by an avalanche and the inhabitants of a small cottage believed they were in its path. They abandoned their home and ran away, only to be swept up in the path of the avalanche which didn't take the expected route.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,146 posts)just a sparsely populated valley that the Courmayeur municipality is in charge of - Val Ferret.
https://www.ansa.it/english/news/general_news/2020/08/06/val-ferret-evacuated-due-to-alarm-about-glacier_cc6e2ba6-7088-488c-93a5-a70e376798e0.html
https://www.24matins.uk/topnews/int/slight-improvement-in-melting-glacier-threatening-italy-resort-237348
It's the valley under the Grandes Jorasses, Aigulle de Rochefort and Dent du Geant:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/11013+Lavachey+Aosta+Valley,+Italy/
They evacuated under 100; Cormayeur has a population of about 3,000, plus more tourists (how many this year, who knows?)