Politicians give CHF1 billion to prevent future Rhône flooding

The Rhône, bursting its banks in 2000 in canton Valais. Keystone / Laurent Gillieron

Parliament has granted over CHF1 billion to go towards the next stage of anti-flood works around the Rhône river in western Switzerland.

The biggest anti-flood project of its kind in the country, works on the Rhône have been ongoing since 2009, when politicians in Bern released the first of three cash instalments of CHF169 million to shore up the country’s second-longest river.

And on Wednesday, the Senate unanimously accepted the financing of the next phase of works: CHF1.02 billion ($1.03 billion) over the next two decades.

The measures involve bolstering the embankments in order to protect some 100,000 people and CHF10 billion worth of goods. The works will take place along 162 kilometres of the Rhône in canton Valais, as well as in canton Vaud.

Politicians and backers of the initiative say the protection measures will also make the river-banks accessible for citizens and will boost biodiversity in the region.

The genesis of the project were the devasting Rhône overflows of the year 2000, when shoddy embankments failed to prevent widescale flooding and CHF500 million worth of damage.

The CHF1.02 billion funding from Bern should cover two-thirds of the overall costs; the rest of the cash will come at a regional level, from cantons Valais and Vaud.

The Rhône, which is not just one of Switzerland’s but also one of Europe’s most important rivers, rises in a glacier in the Swiss Alps in canton Valais, before flowing westwards through Lake Geneva and into France. It enters the Mediterranean just after the town of Arles in southern France.