Grindlewald and Brienz Closure

This is indeed sad and I hope people affected are safe. I'm supposed to visit Brienz in 2 days, now I have to go for plan B.

Some more info. here:

https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/unwetter-schweiz-behoerden-informieren-ueber-schaeden-in-brienz-904263700428

Information and contact numbers on the tourist websites if needed:

Brienz

https://www.brienzersee.ch/en/destinations/lake-brienz/brienz-surroundings

Grindelwald

https://grindelwald.swiss/en/

Edited to add information regarding the boats on Lake Brienz:

Due to storm damage, the Brienz landing stage (Lake Brienz) cannot be operated until and including Friday, 16 August 2024. The Lötschberg steamboat will not be operating until further notice due to floating timber on the lake. All other services on Lake Brienz will run according to the timetable. The sales point in Brienz will remain closed until further notice

https://www.bls-schiff.ch/en/lake-cruise/timetable/current-operating-situation-lake-thun-and-lake-brienz

Thank you for this information, Jim. Brienz is my favorite town in Switzerland. I have stayed there many times since my first stay in the mid 1980s. Last year we stayed six nights at the Weisses Kruez across from the train/bus station. It was with dismay that I watched the linked videos.

We were leaving Brienz the morning of the 2005 flood, after staying at the youth hostel. Our trip of a couple weeks in Germany and Switzerland had been a rainy one nearly the entire time. We boarded a train heading for Lucerne via Brunig Pass. We got as far as Meringen. On the journey from Brienz to Meringen we could see the water alongside the tracks was nearly to the rails. At Meringen we were told that it was unsafe for the train to continue on up the mountain. The train returned to Brienz. We could see the water alongside the tracks had risen while we waited in Meringen for further information. Upon our return to Brienz there was a train headed to Zurich (via Interlaken) across the platform. We quickly boarded that train. Once underway I searched for a train employee. I found one and asked her what time we would arrive in Zurich. She replied, "If we can make it to Zurich we should arrive at ___. " That's when it finally hit me that the flooding situation was not entirely localized. We had purchased a bottle of wine and food for a picnic. As we journeyed on we ate our food and drank our wine. We also watched the flooded scenery. I saw many rural homes/farms entirely surrounded by water. We did arrive at the Zurich Oerlikon station safely and walk to our hotel near the airport. (We we were flying out the next morning.) Once settled in our room we watched the news on TV. We saw how serious the flooding was becoming. And that night people in Brienz lost their homes and some their lives. This was not far from the youth hostel where we had stayed. It was a sad flight home.

Thank you for reading my paragraph of this journey. I think this experience is why I am so heartsick at a similar situation happening again. My thoughts are with the citizen of Brienz and the visitors who are there.

Traveler Girl

I'm so sad to see the destruction in these videos. We will be making our first trip to this area on August 18th thru the 20th and planned to visit Schilthorn, Murren, Lauterbrunner and cruise from Interlaken to Brienz. I know there are a multitude of thing to see and do in the area and I'm sure we will find alternatives if need be but its still disappointing. I hope there are no fatalities do to this devistation and flood waters recede quickly. My sympathy for those effected.

Thank you Jim,
I am scheduled to stay in a BnB on the hillside just above Brienz in 5 weeks!
I hope that there were no injuries or deaths, and that the area can soon be reopened. Brienz is my favorite town (even named a dog after it in the past).
Guess I will contact my host tomorrow.....

I did hear back from my Brienz apartment host.
For now, buses will connect Brienz to Interlaken.
The transit/entrance to Brienz was most heavily damaged, at the RR and ship dock. It is unclear when the area will be cleared and rebuilt, but efforts are underway.
I imaginine the Hotel/Restaurant across from the Bahnhof, the Coop grocery store, the TI and any other businesses homes in that immediate area were heavy damaged.
Transit should be restored within a month, possibly including a new ship pier.

wynoka54, I am glad that your b&b was spared, and that the road to Interlaken is useable now. My wife and I are loyal fans of Brienz, last year we stayed at "the Hotel/Restaurant across from the Bahnhof", which I assume is the Weisses Kreuze. I think the lake is clear enough now for some ships to come to Brienz, but I don't know if the docks are ok for that yet.

There is a nice photographer lady online with a dog named Rasta, who lives in Brienz (I think up the hill a ways) who says that her house is ok. Maybe you've heard of her.

Anyway, we feel so bad for those nice people, who now have so much work to do.

We hope your visit goes well, and we would be very interested to hear how things are 5 weeks from now.

I HAVE followed the adventures of Rasta, the white german shepherd, on Youtube! I didn't know that her owner lived in Brienz.

The ship pier is not supposed to be accepting any boats until next week at the earliest. I don't yet know when the train tracks will be rebuilt.

I know that there was Coop near that intersection as well, and I think Migros further along Hauptstrasse (of course, we'll need groceries!)
Looking at how quickly that flooded Zermatt was reopened earlier this summer, I am hopeful.

Sylvia Michel (photography)
lives in Brienz, and has updated posts on YouTube!

Yes, the COOP is across the alley from the rear (older) rooms of the Weisses Kreueze hotel/restaurant. I just saw some recent photos, and it looks like the rear of the building doesn't look too bad. And, as you say, there's a small Migros further west that hopefully is ok.

Here's a link to a very recent report by the Mayor of Brienz. Lot of progress and optimism. Good to hear.

https://www.derbrienzer.ch/artikel/223966/

Thanks for THAT travelerguy.
It looks like a LOT of mud has already been cleared.
My apartment host is encouraging people NOT to stay away!

Brienz Rothorn train closed for the season:

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/various/the-brienz-rothorn-steam-train-will-be-discontinued-this-season/87033746?utm_source=multiple&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=news_en&utm_content=o&utm_term=wpblock_news

wow, $5M to repair, I can see the ticket price will go up a lot after everything is back in operation

I am so sorry to hear this news! We will be traveling there soon, planning to stay in Iseltwald and exploring Lake Brienz for two nights, then on to Mürren.

What would be the best way to get updates in the coming weeks? I wasn’t able to find a way to translate that article featuring the mayor of Brienz into English.

Thank you for sharing that information. I had no idea about those devastating floods. So sad.

Laurie

Laurie, I read that site (www.derbrienzer.ch) using Firefox for my web browser. Firefox has "add-ons" available that can do lots of things. I added one called TWP -Translate Web Pages. It adds an icon to the top menu bar, and I just have to click that icon, click "translate this page" and poof, the page is all in English. I found I had to set the addon to use Google as the translation engine to get good results.

Depending on your web browser, there may be an add-on that would make translating web pages easy.

Hi @Laurie, the best way to have up-to-date information will be through the tourist information offices. Iseltwald is very small and they do not have their own website, you can check the Brienz website for any important information, or email Iseltwald TI directly if you have any questions, contact info on the Brienz site:

https://www.brienzersee.ch/en/info-service/tourist-offices-in-the-lake-brienz-area/iseltwald-village-shop-tourist-information-point

Another thing you can do is check SBB. If I search Interlaken - Grindelwald now I can see that the train is running again. Do this for whatever route you plan on taking during your stay there.

It is always good to keep an eye on the weather. When the big storm came meteoswiss had a level 3 thunderstorm warning posted already the day before. It is always good to pay attention to these warnings. I have their app on my phone.

https://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/#tab=forecast-map

In some of the news articles about the storm they mentioned AlertSwiss. This is an app I also have on my phone and it will alert me to any dangers I need to be aware of. When the thunderstorm was approaching I received multiple alerts as it traveled toward where I live. There is always a “what to do” section in these alerts and this helps you to make wise decisions.

https://www.alert.swiss

Thank you, Travelerguy and SwissNomad. This is really helpful to me. I did email the hosts at the hotel who confirmed the Brienz station is down for an unknown amount of time. As of now, I’m planning on continuing to travel there. I have a few days left before I can cancel my reservation. But I would like to still see the area and support them with my tourist dollars, so I hope it makes sense to continue our plans.

The SBB app showed me some other routes to get there and that probably will change in the next two weeks, too, I imagine.

I will download those additional apps. Thank you!

Laurie

There are buses replacing the trains to and from Brienz.
I leave for a Brienz stay in a month.

What happened in Brienz is that a stream carried a lot of mud and debris down, and this led to it clogging its usual course. So the water just forged its own way down to the lake. A lot of water ended up running through the railway tunnel under Brienz and that is how the Brienz railway station, which is at the other side of the village, ended up covered in mud.

But that also means that this tunnel is currently flooded, and full with mud and debris. I do not expect the railway to be back in service soon...

Any guesstimates when the ship pier might be back in action?
Do you know if Ballenberg is intact?

Ballenberg was not impacted at all.
The ship pier is expected to open again the 23d of August.

Sylvia posted a walk through of Brienz from this week. https://youtu.be/TXkX37wbZTo?si=tGKresMnE13Lnuzl

Very good video from Sylvia, thanks for sharing

I have now read that the railway between Brienz and Interlaken will remain closed till at least september 29. The tunnel that carries the line under the village was flooded, and there is up to 5m of debris in places. It is that tunnel that caused a lot of mud to be deposited at the other end of the village, around the main station.

The railway now has to replace about 1.5 km of track and all the adjoining electrical and signalling equipment. Until that is done there will be substitute buses.