Storm Situation in the Maggia Valley stable despite heavy rain

Despite heavy rainfall, the situation in the Maggia and Bavona valleys remained stable on Sunday. However, the evacuated residents will not be able to return until the Federal Office of Meteorology lifts the rain warning for the areas concerned.

This was announced by the Ticino emergency staff on Sunday morning at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. The upper Maggia Valley is under a level 2 warning for rain (moderate danger) until at least 8 p.m. on Sunday evening. Until then, the federal government recommends avoiding the banks of rivers and lakes as well as steep slopes.

In the upper Maggia Valley, there is also a flood warning for small and medium-sized rivers (also level 2). For the village of Prato Sornico, which was severely affected by last weekend's storm, the flood warning is in force until 11 a.m. on Monday.

No reports received by the police

Despite heavy rainfall since midday on Saturday, the Ticino cantonal police have not received any reports of "unusual situations", according to Renato Pizolli, head of communications for the emergency services.

On Friday, nine people were flown out of the Bavona Valley, which had also been severely affected by the storms. Other people left the upper Maggia Valley by land on Saturday.

In the previous days, the Ticino crisis team had defined exclusion zones based on the sections of the valley that had already been "wounded" by storms. Several roads were barricaded and access to the affected areas was closed from midday on Saturday. Tourists were urged not to undertake any excursions into the upper Maggia or Bavona valleys.

A lot of rain fell in Ticino on Saturday and during the night into Sunday. So far, the extreme south has been the hardest hit: 110 liters of rain per square meter have been measured near Mendrisio in the past 24 hours.

SDA