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Rains and Floods in Switzerland, Northern Italy and Austria

Posted by on

Hi all. The scenes I'm seeing out of Brienz and the Lauterbrunnen Valley look truly scary. I hope all of you who live there are safe and are managing well under the chaos.

That's the main thing I wanted to say. I don't deign to think that the plans of a couple of tourists mean much in the grand scheme of things.

That said, for those of you who have the time and know the region, I would love some advice. While Brienz is clearly in chaos, it is hard for someone sitting at home in Maryland to gauge how bad or unique this is, and how quickly it may be resolved. My wife and I are planning a delayed honeymoon at the start of December that will take us roughly here: Zurich to Appenzell to Innsbruck, driving the Grossglockner Road, to Bolzano, some Dolomite hiking and the driving the Great Dolomite Road, to Zermatt along the Glacier Express, then four days in Gimmelwald and finally Bern. Spread out over several weeks.

Any place we should check for accurate news? Would anyone change plans at this point?

Thank you. My heart goes out to any and all of you in these regions that are weathering this.

Thanks,

Andy

Posted by
2376 posts

No need to change plans. And nobody knows what will happen between now and December. Just make sure you have good travel insurance.

What happened in Brienz is more or less a repeat of something that happened there in 2005. After that flood certain measures were taken to make sure it does not happen again, but obviously these now appear to be insufficient. It is however only a small part of the town that is affected. The flood however did cut through the main street and the railway. And it may take a while till the railway is operating again. But I would expect it to be normal by December.

As to what happened in the Jungfrau Area: Currently the road and the railway to Grindelwald are back to normal.

Posted by
10 posts

Many thanks for the clear info! Once again, the internet makes everything look worse. Although Brienz did look pretty bad.

Appreciate it.

Posted by
3 posts

I am going 9-2-24. Wondering about the situation. I will be there 6 weeks, so have some freedom in where I go.

Posted by
4742 posts

If you're going in a few weeks you should expect issues and have plans B and C ready, since in travel you must always prepare for the worst

Posted by
10 posts

Phred: is that just a general rule of thumb, or do you mean current weather. It sounds like things are under control in Lauterbrunnen, at least.

Posted by
109 posts

It sounds like things are under control in Lauterbrunnen, at least.

Things are absolutely in control in Lauterbrunnen. In fact it was not Lauterbrunnen, but the neighbouring valley leading to Grindelwald that sustained minor damage. That is all cleared now and trains are running smoothly again.

Brienz is also working on clean-up and can be visited now. The only closure for the season is the Brienz Rothorn train that goes up the mountain. This is strictly a recreational area, not a town.

If I had a holiday here right now I would not hesitate to go.

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