Alpine experts warn:

“Masses of debris drive people out of the valleys”

The recent storm disaster in Switzerland - forces of nature swept away everything in their path.

(Bild: EPA)

The Alps and other European mountain ranges are moving almost daily this summer! With far-reaching consequences, as experts fear. The masses of mud and debris could drive people out of their valleys ...

A few hours ago, without warning, a mudslide formed in the Belianske Mountains in the High Tatras in Slovakia and thundered down into the valley. This was triggered by the most violent storms on the route, which is particularly popular with hikers. On their unstoppable path, the forces of nature swept away, among other things, a hut in which several mountaineers had sought refuge in the face of the floods from the sky. Two mountaineers were thrown to their deaths, others were seriously injured.

Nature takes its revenge
Unfortunately, this tragedy is not an isolated case. On the contrary: according to meteorologists, nature is taking revenge more frequently, more violently and more destructively due to climate change. The root of the (weather) evil lies in the world's oceans, which have been warming steadily for years. Their evaporation energy saturates the atmosphere with huge masses of moisture, which are then released as an iron fist, and not just over the Alps.

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Three degrees warmer and it will bang
Every summer, the consequences hit the residents in the valleys of the mountainous region increasingly hard. "It is therefore not impossible that we will have to abandon individual valleys in the future," warned Flavio Anselmetti, the respected director of the Institute and Professor of Quaternary Geology and Palaeoclimatology at the University of Bern, in the face of the latest catastrophe in his Swiss homeland.

The Swiss expert is not alone in this clear warning. Researcher Reinhard Steurer, Professor of Climate Policy at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, expresses a similar opinion. "If we have three degrees of warming towards the end of the century instead of 1.5, then these events will not only double, they will increase exponentially!" Dr. Gerhard Heilingbrunner, Honorary President of the Environmental Umbrella Association, therefore concludes - like other experts - that we will lose habitat in some of our mountain regions. This is also because the repeated reconstruction of destroyed settlements will simply no longer be economically viable.

The cement of the stones, the perma-ice, will be lost. Everything can get rolling more easily and have a devastating effect

Alpinlegende Fritz Macher

Bild: Imre Antal

Interview: "The situation is becoming increasingly dramatic"
"Krone": Professor Fritz Macher, you are one of Austria's most geologically experienced alpinists. How do you see the situation?
Macher: As chairman of the most traditional Viennese Alpine Association section, Austria, I'm up there almost day and night and I can see that the storms are becoming increasingly violent and dramatic.

How and where specifically?
More and more regions are being affected. And what starts moving in the clear heights often hits the valleys within minutes, hard as a rock or soft as a mudflow.

The causes?
The storms have become more violent and more frequent. And due to global warming, it is thawing faster and faster. The cement of the rocks, the perma-ice, is thus being lost. Everything can get rolling more easily and have a devastating effect.

The consequences?
I don't want to paint the devil on the rock face: in future, it will become increasingly difficult to maintain remote settlements and farms in particular.

Last generation now wants to massively disrupt air traffic
Just like the storms, climate protests are also on the rise. This summer, Last Generation activists are now targeting families who will soon be taking their children on well-deserved vacations to Greece, Spain, etc. Their spokeswoman Marina Hagen-Canaval has announced a massive disruption to international air traffic. The actions will take place worldwide with unprecedented cooperation. Among other things, protesters want to invade airfields in Austria, the UK, the Netherlands, Norway and Canada from July 27 - in the middle of the main travel season.