SWITZERLAND: SOLDIERS HELP PUMP WATER OUT OF HOSPITAL IN SARNEN AFTER DAYS OF TORRENTIAL RAIN CAUSE FLOODS

Record ID: 649300

  • Title: SWITZERLAND: SOLDIERS HELP PUMP WATER OUT OF HOSPITAL IN SARNEN AFTER DAYS OF TORRENTIAL RAIN CAUSE FLOODS
  • Date: 23rd August 2005
  • Summary: (EU) SARNEN, SWITZERLAND (AUGUST 23, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. AERIAL OF FLOODING IN TOWN 0.12 2. AERIAL OF LANDSLIDE/ COLLAPSED ROAD 0.18 3. SLV CHILDREN WALKING IN WATER 0.28 4. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN CANOE CROSSING THE STREET/ STREET SIGN 0.53 5. VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS PUMPING WATER FROM FLOODED HOSPITAL 1.10 6. SLV SOLDIER TIPPING WATER OUT OF HIS WELLINGTON BOOTS 1.16 7. VARIOUS OF MORE OF SOLDIERS PUMPING WATER OUT OF BUILDING 1.28 8. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (German) LIEUTENANT BENNO STUTZER SAYING: "The hospital is incredibly full. What it looks like inside I don't know, our job is to lower the water level as much as possible, which I think we'll just about manage." 1.44 9. VARIOUS HOSPITAL INTERIORS WITH ROOMS UNDERWATER 1.54 10. SLV SANDBAGS AND PUMPING EQUIPMENT 1.58 11. VARIOUS AERIALS OF HOSPITAL 2.07 12. VARIOUS AERIALS OF TOWN 2.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SARNEN, SWITZERLAND
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Reuters ID: LVA4FDGH37VVE9DG55MF9C6ODX14
  • Story Text: Three people die and hundreds flee as Alpine floods spread.


    Three people died and hundreds were evacuated from their homes as
    Switzerland and its neighbours struggled with flooding after days of
    torrential rainfall in the northern Alps.

    As swollen alpine rivers fed waterways in neighbouring countries,
    rivers burst their banks in Austria and Germany on Tuesday (August 23, 2005)
    and mud slides blocked roads and railway tracks.

    One person was killed when a swollen stream tore down eight houses in
    the central Swiss city of Brienz and a second flooding victim was found
    drowned in a river in another town.

    The total death toll now stands at six, as two Swiss firefighters died
    in a mudslide on Monday (August 22), when floods spread from the Bernese Alps
    in central Switzerland to the city of St Gallen in the northeast. One Austrian
    died on Sunday (August 21).

    A further two people were reported missing in Switzerland on Tuesday,
    one of them a woman swept away by a river in the Eastern canton (state) of
    Grisons.

    In Switzerland's capital Berne, almost 300 people were evacuated from a
    residential area. Dozens of others were evacuated in villages throughout the
    country.

    In the town of Sarnen, an army crew was pumping water from a flooded
    hospital.

    "The hospital is incredibly full. What it looks like inside I
    don't know - our job is to lower the water level as much as possible, which I
    think we'll just about manage," said Swiss army lieutenant Benno Stutzer,
    heading the army crew dealing with the floods in the area.

    Weather forecasts predicted only light showers for Tuesday in
    Switzerland and gradual improvement through the rest of the week, though in
    Germany rains would continue.


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