Some of the destruction caused by the severe storm is seen here in the Goms valley on August 27, 1987.
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The town of Flüelen in the central Swiss Alps was flooded.
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Work quickly began to repair train tracks, as seen here in Poschiavo, in southern Switzerland.
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The level of Lake Sarnen in central Switzerland rose so high it flooded its shores. This image was taken in June 1987.
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The village of Münster in the Goms valley was hard hit.
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Even the shores of Lake Constance in northeastern Switzerland were flooded.
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A landslide in canton Graubünden knocked this locomotive and four carriages off the tracks.
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Working to remove stones from a rockslide that buried train tracks in central Switzerland. September 1987.
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Another scene of destruction in the village of Münster.
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The river Reuss in central Switzerland became a raging torrent and washed away part of the railway line.
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The old town of Poschiavo was hit hard by the storm.
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A bird's eye view of Gurtnellen after the storm.
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The summer of 30 years ago in Switzerland was marked by extremely heavy rains, which led to flooding and land and rockslides – cutting railway lines and destroying parts of villages.
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Thomas Kern was born in Switzerland in 1965. Trained as a photographer in Zürich, he started working as a photojournalist in 1989. He was a founder of the Swiss photographers agency Lookat Photos in 1990. Thomas Kern has won twice a World Press Award and has been awarded several Swiss national scholarships. His work has been widely exhibited and it is represented in various collections.
Central Switzerland, particularly canton Uri, was hardest hit, with large parts cut off from the outside world.
Many storm and flood prevention measures were introduced following the natural disasters of 1987, but Switzerland would suffer again from severe weather events, including what were called the floods of the century in 2005 and 2011.
The eastern Swiss town of Bondo, hit by a landslide on Wednesday, was one of those that had put in place anti-flooding measures which protected the town from more damages.
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Switzerland battered by heavy rains and floods
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Heavy rain over the past few days has caused damage to homes and infrastructure in cantons Solothurn, Aargau and Basel-Country, with numerous cellars and roads flooded. The police and fire services were called out 400 times in Aargau alone, and in several areas civil protection volunteers were out in force. In the town of Stetten…
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Recent extreme rainfall has led rivers and lakes across Switzerland to rise to alarming levels. On Lake Biel rescue units worked in shifts to protect several locations from flooding. For the village of Saint-Gingolph on Lake Geneva, it was too late, however, with flooded streets and basements. According to climatologist Reto Knutti such flooding could…
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.