Storm damage The army is not allowed to help clean up after storms in Goms

In the Valais municipality of Goms, the army is not allowed to provide any further assistance in clearing up the storm damage. The master builders' association does not agree to the deployment.

After the severe storms in Valais at the beginning of July, the army took part in the clean-up and reconstruction work. It ended on July 10. However, the deployment will not be extended, as the "Walliser Bote" reported in its Friday edition.

The municipality of Goms had requested further support from the army - but the master builders' association did not give its approval. The mayor of Goms, Gerhard Kiechler, confirmed the situation at the request of Keystone-SDA: "As the applicant, the municipality had to withdraw the application because a negative decision was received from the master builders' association."

This situation will not change for the time being, as the master builders are on vacation until mid-August. According to Kiechler, the municipality would have received an RS army unit from August 19 - ten to 15 people who would have been deployed alternately. Army spokesman Stefan Hofer confirmed on request that the army has since examined how any further deployment could have been carried out.

Companies should clean up

According to the "Walliser Bote", the veto right of the master builders' association goes back to an agreement that the cantonal authorities made with the association in 1997.

The association's deputy director and communications manager, Chiara Meichtry, did not wish to comment on this on Friday. At the beginning of July, she told the "Walliser Bote" newspaper that the "special situation" against further deployment of the army had been lifted. In addition, the capacities of the companies would be sufficient to cover the needs of the municipality of Goms.