Fire departments challenged

Tyrol: closures after thunderstorms, car trapped in mudslide

Following a mudslide on the B 180 Reschenstraße and the adjacent Oberinntalstraße, both links had to be closed.(Bild: Land Tirol)

Thunderstorms, some of them severe, with heavy rain, swept across Tyrol on Thursday evening and Friday night. In the Oberland, for example, the Reschenstraße near Tösens was displaced by a mudslide. A mudslide also occurred in the Zillertal valley, trapping a car between two streams.

The mudslide in Fügenberg in the Zillertal was particularly dramatic: at around midnight, a local road there became mired in several places due to the heavy rain. The car of a German couple (35 and 39 years old) was literally trapped between two streams of the "Hundsbach", the police reported. 

The emergency services were only able to reach the car on foot.

Die Polizei

Vehicle occupants remained unharmed
"The emergency services were only able to reach the car on foot. The two Germans were found there unharmed. There was apparently no damage to the car either," reported the police.

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The Fügen fire department then arranged for the road to be cleared by an earthmoving company so that the couple could drive their car down the valley towards Fügen.

Reschenstraße closed after mudslide
There was also a mudslide in the Landeck district: the B180 Reschenstraße and the adjacent L65 Oberinntalstraße were blocked by debris in the Tösens area. The roads were closed.

The mudslide in Tösens.(Bild: Hans-Peter Neururer )

Municipalities only accessible from abroad
"The municipalities of Pfunds, Spiss and Nauders as well as the Reschenpass are currently not accessible from the Inntal valley. A bypass of the closures is currently only possible over a large area via South Tyrol or Switzerland," said the province of Tyrol in a press release on Friday morning.

The abutment of a bridge on the L65 Oberinntalstraße was washed out.(Bild: Land Tirol)

B180: Closure during the night after opening
The clean-up work was already in full swing in the morning. Experts from the provincial geology department were also on site. In the afternoon, the state reported that at least one lane of the B180 could be reopened to traffic from 2.30 pm. Oncoming traffic will be regulated by traffic posts. "For safety reasons, it is not possible to open the road at night due to limited visibility. The B180 Reschenstraße will therefore be closed to traffic again from 9 pm on Friday. A new assessment will be carried out tomorrow morning, Saturday morning, after which a decision will be made on whether to reopen the road," said the province.

Landslides have also occurred in the rear Kaunertal valley. In Serfaus, according to the province, a stream became blocked and a slope moved in the area of the Komperdellbahn valley station. Clearing and securing work is underway - populated areas are not affected. 

The Hahntennjoch, which connects the districts of Imst and Reutte, was also closed due to the storm and heavy rain.

Operations against water damage
As the Tyrol control center told the "Krone" on Friday morning, there were also isolated operations due to water damage. These included in Stumm and Kaltenbach in the Zillertal valley, in Rum and in Sölden, where the Ötztaler Ache river became blocked.