The rock slide, believed to have been caused by natural erosion over the course of decades, came quite close to the local schoolhouse.
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A rockfall narrowly missed the Swiss village of Brienz/Brinzauls Thursday. Residents were evacuated in May because of safety fears. (Photo by Michael Buholzer/EPA-EFE)
June 16 (UPI) -- A rockfall came dangerously close to the Swiss village of Brienz/Brinzauls, which was evacuated in May because of fears for the safety of residents.
The rock and scree missed the empty hamlet “by a hair," local authorities said.
"During the night, a large part of the insel towards Brienz/Brinzauls departed. The rock masses only just missed the village: they left a meter-high deposit on the main road near the schoolhouse," the Albula/Alvra and Brienz/Brinzauls municipality tweeted Friday.
"A large part of the insel fell off in a stream of debris during the night. So far no damage has been found in the village. The behavior of the surrounding rock masses is currently being observed," the municipality said.
The village is normally home to about 100 residents and is the location of a 16th-century church. Images of the aftermath indicate the rockslide stopped just shy of the St. Calixtus church.
"There is no indication of damage in the village, with the rocks mass having stopped just in front of the village," local authorities said in a statement.
"In such cases you cannot exclude the fact that blocks of rock crash into other blocks creating stone splinters from the size of a fist to a football," said local community spokesperson Christian Gartmann.
Gartmann said such debris can "shoot through the air and can penetrate window panes or other building parts."
Climate change is believed to have contributed to similar rockfalls as the snowmelt has caused certain regions of mountains to weaken.
On Monday, the peak of Fluchthorn mountain in Austria collapsed.
In a video produced by local Austrian authorities explaining the collapse, state geologist Thomas Figl said, "We can be relatively sure about the cause of this incident: permafrost. The ice is the glue of the mountains and that ice has been thawing over a long period of time due to climate change. That then causes the results we see here."
The rockslide in Brienz is thought to have been the result of natural erosion as opposed to melting permafrost.
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