The “Krone” in Sölden

Mayor After the Storm: “That’s Life in the Mountains”

(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

“Now we just have to get back to work, roll up our sleeves. That’s life in the Tyrolean mountains”: Ernst Schöpf, mayor of the Tyrolean municipality of Sölden, describes Wednesday’s violent storm in an interview with the “Krone” and is relieved that no one was injured.

Following Wednesday’s severe storm, which included mudslides in the Tyrolean tourist town of Sölden in the upper Ötztal valley, cleanup efforts continued in full swing on Thursday. Fire departments and other responders have been working nonstop since Wednesday evening and through the night.

“Oh my, here it comes!”
The district of Vent was particularly hard hit. Mayor Ernst Schöpf describes how he experienced the storm. Cumulonimbus clouds and thunderstorms along the main Alpine ridge had already been forecast earlier in the day. In the evening, however, the weather conditions deteriorated rapidly. Looking toward the Venter Valley around 8:30 p.m., he thought to himself: “Oh boy, this is going to be bad!”

Shortly afterward, a report came in from the so-called Rofenhöfe in the Vent district that a mudslide had engulfed the parking lot and had already swept away vehicles. Schöpf also mentions fierce winds (“Everything that wasn’t tied down flew away”) and hail.

Mayor Schöpf described the scenes from Wednesday evening to the “Krone.”(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

Access bridge to the wastewater treatment plant swept away
“It rained heavily for maybe ten minutes, then the sky cleared up again,” Schöpf described. Shortly afterward, however, the next emergency alert came in: The Wütenbach had become clogged with large amounts of debris and burst its banks.

The mudslide once again swept away the access bridge to the wastewater treatment plant—the same bridge had already been damaged during events in 2020 and 2023. What made it particularly treacherous: “The inflow from the side causes the Ötztaler Ache to back up. It then floods all the way back to the first part of the settlement.

“In between, there was practically nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
“The action took place, so to speak, at the northernmost point of the Sölden municipality’s settlement area and at the southernmost point near the Rofenhöfe—in between, there was practically nothing. Absolutely nothing,” explained the mayor. The storm was thus concentrated in a fairly small area.

“Fortunately, no one was injured”
Despite the extensive property damage, Schöpf is first and foremost glad that “fortunately, no one was injured.” That is the top priority—both for the residents and for the numerous emergency responders.

The mayor is taking the cleanup efforts in stride: “Now we just have to get back to work, roll up our sleeves. That’s life in the Tyrolean mountains.”

Watch the full interview in the video above!