Swiss Army ends clean-up operation in storm-hit Maggia Valley

The Maggia Valley was hit by heavy thunderstorms at the end of June that triggered deadly landslides. Keystone-SDA

The Swiss Armed Forces completed 76 flight hours during the clean-up operation following the storm in the Maggia Valley in southern Switzerland at the end of June. A total of 762 police officers and over 100 firefighters were deployed. Canton Ticino has not yet provided any information on the costs incurred.

The work in the Upper Maggia Valley, which was devastated by a severe storm, has not yet been completed, said the president of the Ticino cantonal government, Christian Vitta, in Bellinzona on Monday. Further commitment is needed to “give this region a future”, he said.

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Ticino is hoping for the additional loans requested by the Swiss government on Friday for the cantons of Graubünden, Ticino, Valais, Vaud and Bern, which were affected by the storms. Parliament must approve the loans, worth CHF56.5 million ($67 million).

From an organisational point of view, the Ticino government drew a positive balance of the clean-up work. The cooperation with the army, whose deployment ended on Monday, had been excellent.

+ Two dead after landslide hits southern Switzerland

As Maurizio Dattrino, commander of the army deployment, explained, the army provided disaster relief in the first phase until the end of July. In the second phase, it primarily supported the civilian service with military vehicles. In all, 538 members of the Locarno and Maggia Valley Civil Defence carried out a total of 3,414 daily missions, explained Patrik Arnold.

While the Upper Maggia Valley is accessible again, the road into the Bavona Valley will remain closed until at least the end of the year, Andrea Baumer, who is responsible for the Bavona Valley road consortium, told the Keystone-SDA news agency. Only homeowners and farmers will be able to access the valley with a permit when road construction work is completed and the weather is fine.

Translated from German by DeepL/gw

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