On Friday, 21 June at 8 pm, an alarm comes in at the Locarno helicopter base: flooding in Sorte, a district of Lostallo in the Val Mesolcina (Canton Graubünden). A number of people need to be urgently evacuated after a devastating avalanche of mud and debris has hit several houses in the village centre and swept away a holiday home. The Riale Molera stream has overflowed its banks and triggered this massive landslide.
Nature unleashed
During the severe storms in Italian-speaking Switzerland, several Rega crews were deployed to evacuate the population or search for missing persons. The Rega crews were the first to arrive on the scene in the Val Mesolcina, as well as in the Val Lavizzara and Val Bavona, and were thus able to help gain an overview of the situation.
Four Rega helicopters were in operation in Ticino at the same time.
In Sorte, the Riale Molera stream overflowed its banks. The extent of the devastation can be seen from the helicopter.
Evacuated with the rescue hoist
When the crew of Rega 6 arrive at the incident scene with a helicopter rescue specialist on board, they encounter a surreal landscape: here and there, a house or car can be seen protruding from between huge piles of rocks, boulders, tree trunks and mud. On the balcony of a house surrounded by rubble, six people are waving to the rescue helicopter in order to attract the crew’s attention.
The Rega crew precisely set the helicopter rescue specialist down on the balcony with the rescue hoist and airlift the six people, all of them uninjured, to safety. However, Rega’s assistance is still needed. Therefore, the crew discuss the further course of action with the police, who in the meantime have searched all the houses and apartments for any injured or trapped inhabitants. The Rega crew return to the base to refuel the helicopter. Back in Lostallo again, they fly out more people who are cut off from the outside world due to the flooding. In just over two hours, Rega evacuates 22 people: six in Sorte and 16 in three other districts of Lostallo. These are cared for by paramedics from the Graubünden and Ticino rescue services in a temporary medical outpost. Despite an extensive search, four people remain missing.
Woman freed from rubble and evacuated
In the meantime, in Sorte, ground-based rescue teams, search dogs with their handlers and a Swiss Air Force Super Puma are also carrying out a joint search for further missing persons. On Saturday morning, shortly after 5 am, the Rega Operations Center at Zurich Airport receives a call for help via the Rega app. The flight coordinator immediately mobilises the mountain rescuers from the Swiss Alpine Club SAC. An elderly woman is trapped under the rubble of a house; she is successfully rescued at around 6 o’clock in the morning.
The search continues with the help of the army, which is equipped with thermal imaging cameras and GPS location devices. But the longer the search lasts, the more the hope of finding the three other missing people alive dwindles. It later transpires that the floods in Sorte had cost these three people their lives.
After the landslide in Fontana, the rescue services searched for missing persons.
More heavy rainfall
Just eight days after the forces of nature wreaked havoc in the Val Mesolcina, the upper Vallemaggia and the Val Bavona are hit by torrential rain. This time, the conditions for the rescue services are even more difficult; the Visletto bridge has collapsed, severing the road link to Cevio and the upper Vallemaggia. At 2.15 am on Sunday morning, the Rega Operations Center receives another emergency call: in Fontana, in the municipality of Cevio, a landslide had claimed one life, one person has been injured and another is missing. As both the landline and mobile networks had been disrupted shortly after the alarm was raised, the caller can no longer be contacted. The helicopter crew prepare for the night mission, but the violent storms prevent them from taking off.
Prato-Sornico in the Val Lavizzara was also flooded and the sports centre destroyed.
Aerial photos reveal the extent of the disaster
At around 3 am, the heavy rainfall subsides somewhat and the crew are able to take off. Once again, a helicopter rescue specialist is on board. In Cevio, the crew contact the Rega Operations Center to request a second rescue helicopter and immediately begin to evacuate people with the rescue hoist. Shortly afterwards, the Rega crew from the Samedan base arrive to assist with the evacuations. Numerous emergency calls follow from various villages in the Val Lavizzara and Val Bavona. Thanks to the photos and videos taken by the two Rega crews, who had been the first on the scene, the rescuers have a good overview of the situation.
The regional crisis team under the leadership of the Ticino cantonal police is activated; it is responsible for coordinating the operations of the various rescue organisations. Early in the morning, the full extent of the devastation becomes apparent: “In 25 years of working in this profession, I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Rega paramedic Boris Bottinelli, who had previously been in action in Sorte. And his colleague, Giorgio De Ambroggi, adds: “You could see the fear and great despair on the faces of the people who were evacuated in the night.”
Mountain rescuers from the Swiss Alpine Club spent days combing the banks of the Maggia river, from Fontana to the mouth of the river, in search of survivors. The specialists were flown by Rega into the affected area.
Large-scale evacuations and search flights
In Piano di Peccia alone, around 300 people are waiting to be flown to safety. The following day, private helicopter companies and the army help with the evacuations. The two Rega helicopters search for missing persons in the rivers and in the weather-ravaged surrounding area. At around 11 am, Rega 18 also arrives to support the search operations. Thanks to the Low Flight Network (LFN), the crew from Sion had been able to fly to Ticino despite the adverse weather. Rega 18 is carrying three police officers on board, who are equipped with satellite phones so that, if necessary, they can raise the alarm from three strategic points in the disaster area – Piano di Peccia, Fusio and San Carlo.
In Lu Bósc, near Fontana, Rega sets down mountain rescuers from the Swiss Alpine Club SAC with the rescue hoist.
At the request of the police, Rega also calls out its search helicopter. This is stationed in Wilderswil and is equipped with a high-tech search system with a thermal imaging camera and numerous sensors. As a result, the Rega crews are able to search large areas for missing persons from the air, both during the day and at night. This helicopter, too, follows the predefined LFN routes.
After several days of intensive searching and extraordinary effort by everyone involved – various rescue services, including the army, mountain rescuers from the Swiss Alpine Club SAC and civil protection helpers – the rescue teams have to accept that seven people have lost their lives and two people could not be found. This devastating natural hazard event has caused profound damage to both people and landscape.