(Courmayeur) A huge piece of a glacier in the Grandes Jorasses, in the Italian part of the Mont Blanc massif, threatens to collapse due to the heat, requiring the evacuation of several dozen residents and tourists in the area.
Posted on August 6 2020 at 9am 55 Updated to 11 h 11
France Media Agency
An estimated volume of ice at 250 00 0 cubic meters is the point of detachment from the Planpincieux glacier, on the territory of the municipality of Courmayeur, according to officials of this municipality in the region of Valle d'Aosta located near the border with France.
“It's roughly the size of Milan Cathedral, or a soccer field covered in 80 meters of ice ”, detailed Valerio Segor, director of natural risk management for the Aosta Valley.
A fall of such a mass of ice “could cause considerable damage, but also spread over a large area”, like an avalanche, the official warned.
“Urgent and imperative”
Decided on Wednesday evening, the evacuation “was urgent and imperative”, justified Thursday during a press conference the mayor of Courmayeur, Stefano Miserocchi, famous winter sports resort near the French border and the city of Chamonix.
“The situation justifies a high state of alert in the next 70 hours,” said the city councilor.
The threatened area is located in the Val Ferret valley, on a northeast axis and a handful of kilometers from the Courmayeur resort, which itself is not directly threatened.
The Italian exit of the Mont Blanc tunnel, a vital communication axis between France and Italy, comes out nearby, but is not located in the area either.
Thursday afternoon, onlookers and journalists were kept away from the red zone by a security barrier, about three kilometers from the icy slopes of Planpincieux and the risk area below, a noted an AFP photographer on site.
Several roads crisscrossing the Val Ferret valley have however been closed.
The local authorities have ordered the evacuation of around thirty houses in the lower part of Val Ferret, concerning nearly 55 people (15 residents and more than 50 tourists).
“The order was given at the end of a meeting with regional technicians, who drew up a picture of the situation in the light of the expected increase in temperature” for the next few days, the Ansa news agency said.
“For the inhabitants [évacués], we will assess the solutions to be found”, in collaboration with the local Red Cross, while “the tourists will have to find other solutions”, according to the mayor.
The exact number of people to be evacuated will not be determined until the next few hours, with the end of operations, the mayor said, quoted by the Ansa news agency.
The inhabitants of Val Ferret living outside the risk zone can choose to stay there “if they feel independent for at least three days”, with the necessary food stocks.
Access remains possible to this same valley of Val Ferret via an “alternative road”, alternating one-way and reserved for the authorities.
Like a slide
Local authorities are worried about the temperature for the next three days during this hot summer period.
In September and October 500, this Planpincieux glacier had already threatened to partially collapse, over a portion of nearly 250 00 0 cubic meters. Surveillance measures have since been put in place.
The situation this year is however different from 2019: it was cold at the beginning of the week, and now that the temperature will rise very quickly, the ice could collapse in the next 70, local authorities warned.
The mass of the gigantic glacier is “affected by abnormal trends in future temperatures” from this Thursday, according to the municipality.
The part of the glacier that threatens to fall is located between 2600 and 2800 meters above sea level, in the direct vicinity of the Boccalatte refuge, a wooden house clinging to the side of the Grandes Jorasses.
“With our monitoring system, we identified the part of the glacier which is starting to separate, at a limited speed”, explained Mr. Segor, stressing that the phenomenon was visible by helicopter.
The thermal shock to come, with the alternation of hot and cold, “weakens this part of the glacier, with an immediate risk of collapse”.
“The water flowing under the ice can, in fact, act like a slide. This is a particularly dangerous situation and the most conducive to collapse “, warned the same official.
