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WEATHER

Storm debris endangers Lake Biel boat traffic

Authorities suspended until Friday boat traffic on the Aar River between Bienne, in the canton of Bern, and Solothurn due to the high volume of wood debris following torrential rain over the weekend.

Published: 15 July 2014 09:57 CEST
Storm debris endangers Lake Biel boat traffic
Photo: BSG

Bern cantonal police on Monday issued a warning for caution to operators of boats on Lake Biel because of tree trunks and branches in the lake.

Work got under way to collect the wood to minimize danger of collisions for boaters.

Cruises on Lake Biel and the Three Lakes route were maintained, the Bielersee Schiffhart (BSG), operator of passenger boats, announced.

Meanwhile, authorities increased the flow of water into the Nidau-Büren canal to ensure that the level of the lake did not spill over its banks.

Heavy rain between Friday night and Sunday morning caused millions of francs’ worth of damage in the regions of Fribourg, Bern, Frauenfeld (in the canton of Thurgau) and Winterthur (in the canton of Zurich).

The basements of numerous buildings were flooded, the ATS news agency reported.

Bern property insurer GVB estimated damage in the canton at around four million francs ($4.5 million).

Köniz, a suburb of the Swiss capital, was the worst hit, accounting for close to half the damage.

Six people forced to evacuate their homes in the municipality on Saturday night were able to return, ATS said.

Insurance company GVRG estimated damage in the canton of Thurgau at up to one million francs.

Meanwhile, rail service resumed on Monday on the line between Bern and Fribourg after a landslide on the weekend halted trains.

Passenger trains began to run again the same day on the Montreux-Oberland- Bernois (MOB) line between Chamby, in the canton of Vaud, and Montbovon, in the canton of Fribourg, after crews cleared another landslide.

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WEATHER

IN PICTURES: ‘Exceptional’ Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

An "exceptional" dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent's climate monitor said on Monday, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime.

Published: 8 April 2024 14:15 CEST
IN PICTURES: 'Exceptional' Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said the latest plume, the third of its kind in recent weeks, was bringing hazy conditions to southern Europe and would sweep northward as far as Scandinavia.

Mark Parrington, senior scientist at Copernicus, said the latest event was related to a weather pattern that has brought warmer weather to parts of Europe in recent days.

“While it is not unusual for Saharan dust plumes to reach Europe, there has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of such episodes in recent years, which could be potentially attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns,” he said.

This latest episode has caused air quality to deteriorate in several countries, Copernicus said.

The European Union’s safe threshold for concentrations of PM10 — coarser particles like sand and dust that that can irritate the nose and throat — has already been exceeded in some locations.

A picture taken on April 8, 2024 shows a rapeseed field under thick sand dust blown in from the Sahara, giving the sky a yellowish appearance near Daillens, western Switzerland. – An “exceptional” dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent’s climate monitor said, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

The worst affected was the Iberian Peninsula in Spain but lesser air pollution spikes were also recorded in parts of Switzerland, France and Germany.

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Local authorities in southeastern and southern France announced that the air pollution threshold was breached on Saturday.

They advised residents to avoid intense physical activity, particularly those with heart or respiratory problems.

The dust outbreak was expected to reach Sweden, Finland and northwest Russia before ending on Tuesday with a shift in weather patterns, Copernicus said.

The Sahara emits between 60 and 200 million tonnes of fine dust every year, which can travel thousands of kilometres (miles), carried by winds and certain meteorological conditions.

The Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa saw just 12 days within a 90-day period from December to February where skies were free of Saharan dust, the local weather agency Aemet had reported.

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