Swiss storm eyewitnesses "The house started to shake at around 0.15 a.m."

Three eyewitnesses report on how they experienced the storms that hit the southern side of the Alps in Ticino and Valais.

When the heavens opened on Saturday night and the Valle Maggia was flooded, Gabriele Zeller's phone rang. "A friend of mine called me and told me that he had almost crashed his car into the river," he told Ticinonews.

At home in Sonlerto in Val Bavona, Zeller didn't even realize how serious the weather situation had become: "When I left the house to go to my friend's house, visibility was zero and I saw how the river had burst its banks." Zeller had to help his colleague out of the water.

"I told him he had to walk close to the mountain so that he could avoid the stronger current," Zeller recalls. "The stream was also full of material close to the mountain, but his speed was slower. My friend followed my instructions: He had the water up to his knees and the current was already strong, but he managed to get out."

Fiorenzo Dadò also lives in Val Bavona: "My family and I are fine, but unfortunately these words cannot be said by everyone," the Grand Councillor and Centro President told "Ticinonews". Dadò was surprised by the storm at home: "The house started to shake at around 00:15, the whole thing lasted about ten minutes. We looked at each other and it's impossible to describe the feeling."

Football tournament in Piano di Peccia falls through

Daniele Rotanzi experienced the storm in Piano di Peccia, where he was organizing a football tournament. Concerts were to take place afterwards, but first the footballers watched the match between Switzerland and Italy, which the national team won. "There was great enthusiasm and a desire to celebrate. Then everything changed."

The band Make Plain and Sebalter played, but there was no DJ. He replied to a text message saying he was in Piano di Peccia but couldn't get through because of water on the road. "That's when it all became clear to me," Rotanzi explains to "tio". For the next three hours, heavy rain trapped the group on the spot: "I've never seen such intensity for so long."

It was at its worst between 1 and 2 a.m.: "Not far from us, an embankment collapsed. Fortunately, the intensity of the storm then subsided." There was no panic because the group was in contact with the fire department and police. Even when the phones were out of order, there was a radio link to the rescuers, who were only able to help on Sunday.

"It happened so quickly"

"We had prepared breakfast and lunch, we had enough to eat," explains the eyewitness. "At 5 p.m., the first helicopter came to pick us up. The last one left at 7.30 pm." 300 people were evacuated, but one player from the football tournament is still missing. Rotanzi only realized what a "catastrophe" the group had survived when he was back home.

On "10vor10" on SRF, the owner of the hotel in Saas-Grund VS, where a guest had died, speaks out. The 67-year-old had been surprised by the water of the Rhone in the cellar. The German only wanted to quickly gather his personal belongings.

"It happened so quickly," says David Burgener, the owner of Hotel Eden. "We tried to hold [the water] back. Then there was a splash and I was thrown all the way back to the fireplace. It happened so quickly, you just get a shock."