Winter madness in northern Italy – two-meter-high snow blankets, telephone lines dead: avalanche covers street gallery in South Tyrol

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Winter has had a firm grip on Northern Italy since the beginning of March, Merkur reports. The cause of the heavy snowfall lies low above the northern Mediterranean. Photos published by the South Tyrol State Fire Brigade Association on Facebook show how bad the snow situation really is.

An avalanche occurred on Sunday afternoon in the rear Martell valley, southwest of Meran, between Hotel Waldheim and a biathlon center. It was said that the mass of snow had entered a gallery on the main road leading through the valley. The gallery should normally protect traffic from snow and falling stones.

Northern Italy is drowning in snow

But now the snow piled up meters high. For hours, no one knew whether any cars or even pedestrians were buried in the gallery. Firefighters combed the white mass piece by piece with avalanche probes. Sniffer dogs were also used.

“Emergency services immediately searched the affected section of road in the avalanche protection gallery, but fortunately no one was buried,” the state fire brigade association said in a post on Facebook. During the day, the gallery was largely cleared, so that vehicles could drive out of the valley again in the evening. The road was then temporarily closed.

The situation is not only tense in South Tyrol. In the Aosta Valley, which borders Switzerland, many roads had to be closed. Weather reporter Jacopo Zanoni from the weather service Meteo & Radar Italia measured almost two meters of snow on the roofs of the mountain village of Ceresole Reale on Sunday. The power went out temporarily and the phone lines were also dead.

Source: Blick