Storm A couple and an elderly woman are still missing in Misox GR
The emergency services rescued a woman from a cone of rubble in Misox GR at 06:00 on Saturday morning. Three other people, a couple and an elderly woman, were buried in the same area and have been reported missing.
A cone of rubble destroyed three houses in Sorte, a district of the municipality of Lostallo GR in the southern Graubünden valley of Misox, and buried four people, one of whom was rescued, said the commander of the Graubünden cantonal police, William Kloter, at a media conference in Roveredo GR on Saturday morning. The rescued woman was taken to a hospital in Lugano TI.
The landslide occurred on Friday evening after persistent rainfall and heavy thunderstorms, which led to severe flooding.
The emergency services on site are continuing to search for the three missing people using helicopters and drones, said Kloter. The location of the missing persons is not known. The Redog rescue dog organization was also deployed with five dog teams and a team leader, the organization wrote on X.
Power, water and traffic interrupted
Five villages in the Graubünden valley were without electricity on Saturday. In some of the affected villages, mains water was also cut off. The water was undrinkable in all the affected villages of Lostallo GR, Cabbiolo GR, Sorte GR, Arabella GR and Norantola GR, as Kloter told the Keystone-SDA news agency when asked. It was not known when the power would return.
The A13 national road between Roveredo GR and the San Bernardino Pass was affected and had to be closed on Friday evening. In Lostallo, around 200 meters of the road had collapsed, said Lorenzo Quolantoni, spokesman for the Federal Roads Office (Astra), on request.
How long the road will remain closed was still unknown on Saturday. At the moment, circumstances do not allow the damage to be analyzed up close, the spokesman said. One bridge in particular would have to be examined closely. Transit traffic is being diverted via the A2 over the Gotthard.
The cantonal road in the valley was also closed, according to a spokesperson for the Graubünden cantonal police. Only the emergency services were able to reach the affected villages from the south via the road. Boulders five to ten meters in size were lying on the road.
Amherd expresses her shock
The Graubünden government is following the situation in Misox with great concern and wishes everyone involved a lot of strength, it announced. Meanwhile, the Ticino State Council expressed its solidarity and sympathy with the affected population. The President of the Swiss Confederation, Viola Amherd, expressed her shock at the extent of the storm damage on X. Her thoughts are with the affected population.
Such events remind us once again of the extent to which life in the Alpine region is subject to the forces of nature, as the Ticino government wrote in a communiqué on Saturday. On behalf of the entire population of Ticino, the State Council expressed Ticino's full support for the affected population, the Graubünden authorities and the people in the region.
