Traces still visible

Storm victims feel abandoned

Mayor Bernard Sadovnik shows the renovated Hemmabergstrasse.(Bild: EVELYN HRONEK)

The dramatic events in the summer of 2023 have left deep traces in nature. The "Kärntner Krone" visited those affected in Globasnitz.

The gentle babbling of the stream in the Luschniggraben is deceptive: a few months ago, the forces of nature raged here! Mountains of debris and alluvium thundered down into the valley from the Simonberg. The traces that are still visible only give an idea of the forces that raged here.

Wilhelm Tomaschej's field was completely flooded.(Bild: EVELYN HRONEK)

Wood and debris from the Simonberg lie at the entrance to the Luschnig ditch.(Bild: Evelyn Hronek)

We visit young farmer Benedikt Lassnigg in the small village of Slovenjach. "Almost half the mountain slid down with the mudslide. Hardly anything is left of the forest." The landslide has torn a two and a half kilometer long crater into the idyllic landscape. "My neighbors still don't have a road," says the forester. There have always been storms, but never like the one in 2023. "We can't do anything about the power of nature."

In some places, there is still danger to life in Globasnitz after the storm of 2023.(Bild: Evelyn Hronek)

Hundreds of trucks still have to be brought out of the ditch. "We hope that nothing will happen," says Mayor Bernard Sadovnik. The Simonberg is still moving. "It will be decades before there is forest there again."

Benedikt Lassnigg from Slovenjach: "Almost half the mountain has slid down with the mudslide."(Bild: Evelyn Hronek)

I am worried. The loose material should have been cleared away long ago. It's dangerous to be there.

Benedikt Lassnigg aus Slovenjach

The damage to the landowners is considerable. Many of those affected feel abandoned. One of them is Wilhelm Tomaschej in Traundorf. In order to save houses, the farmer's farmland was flooded by the Globasnitzbach: "We had no help, huge masses had to be removed." Sadovnik: "The damage to the infrastructure in the municipality amounted to 660,000 euros."