Mont Blanc: Glacier collapse risk forces Italy Alps evacuation

Mont Blanc: Glacier collapse risk forces Italy Alps evacuation

From BBC

Italian authorities have evacuated about 75 people, mostly tourists, from an Alpine valley as huge blocks of ice threaten to crash down from a glacier.

Planpincieux glacier, in the Mont Blanc massif, has weakened because of intense summer heat alternating with night-time cold. It lies above Val Ferret valley, near Courmayeur ski resort.

unbiased news without politics  Glacier collapse in Italy

A local environmental risk expert said the fragile ice could fall at any time.

The threatening glacier section is about the size of Milan cathedral.

The risk manager, Valerio Segor, said “the water flowing underneath can, in fact, act as a slide” and they faced “the risk of immediate collapse”.

The fragile 500,000 cubic metres (18m cu ft) of glacier is being monitored with aerial photography and radar.

non political news Mont Blanc: Glacier collapse risk forces Italy Alps evacuation

Roads leading to Val Ferret, a popular area for hikers, have been closed off.

A similar alert and evacuation took place last September, because of the unusually hot Alpine summer, attributed to global warming. Read more from BBC