The Avalanche Protection Wall of Flateyri

Flateyri is a modest line-fishing hamlet located on a narrow strip of province at the border of the body of body of water inwards the picturesque Westfjords , inwards northwest Iceland. The hamlet of alone 300 has been a trading postal service since 1792 in addition to saw its heyday inwards the 19th century when it became a major whaling amount in addition to base of operations for shark-hunting. The line-fishing manufacture has ever been vital for the villages inwards the Westfjords , in addition to Flateyri had successfully married this tradition amongst tourism making the hamlet a real pop goal for unusual body of body of water anglers.

Like hence many Icelandic villages , Flateyri is located on the seaside at the base of operations of a steep , treeless mount called Skollahvilft. The mount is simply steeper than commons in addition to remains covered amongst snowfall for much of the twelvemonth making it susceptible to avalanches. However , no major incident had occurred until ane Oct morning time inwards 1995.

flateyri-avalanche-wall-10

Photo credit: www.ismennt.is

It was 4 am on the 27th , in addition to the residents of Flateyri were sleeping. Suddenly , they were awakened past times a deafening roar every bit H2O ice , rocks , in addition to snowfall came crashing downward the mountain. Seventeen homes , alone ane of which was idea to prevarication inwards the avalanche danger zone , were buried nether snowfall in addition to rocks. Local residents forthwith attempted a rescue get , simply the snowfall had erased all landmarks in addition to they had problem locating where the houses were. The darkness made matters worse. Twenty people were killed that day. It took search parties 2 long in addition to grueling days to locate all the bodies.

The disaster was the 2d deadly avalanche inwards the same share inwards x months. In Jan , the people inwards the line-fishing hamlet of Suðavík suffered a devastating avalanche where xvi residents lost their lives. After that incident , people living inwards avalanche-prone areas became to a greater extent than prepared in addition to cautious. As wintertime began the next Oct , high winds inwards the West Fjords prompted evacuations across the region. Hundreds of electrical poles were snapped past times the winds similar twigs. Several avalanches occurred the twenty-four sixty minutes stream earlier the disaster at diverse places. In Langidalur , a herd of xviii horses were killed , piece around other slide destroyed a storage edifice inwards Sugandafjor.

flateyri-avalanche-wall-1

Two deadly avalanches struck the Westfjords inwards 1995. One striking the town of Súðavík inwards Jan , killing xiv , the other struck Flateyri inwards Oct , killing 20. Photo/GVA

In 1998 , a especial A-shaped earthen dam was built upward the mount to protect Flateyri from futurity avalanches. The construction consist of 2 deflecting dams that degree a wedge or A-shaped construction inwards the mount side. There is a modest catching dam that extends betwixt the 2 deflecting dams inwards the lowermost part. The walls are 600 meters long in addition to 15-20 meters tall , piece the catching dam is 10 meters high in addition to 350 meters long.

Only a twelvemonth afterwards the dam was completed , inwards Feb of 1999 , a large avalanche from the mount came crashing downward into the eastern side of the dam in addition to went into the sea. The hamlet was saved. The side past times side wintertime , inwards March , around other huge avalanche from the mount slammed into the western wall in addition to the hamlet was protected again. Other smaller avalanches bring occurred regularly , in addition to each fourth dimension the protection wall has deflected the snowfall safely away from the village.

flateyri-avalanche-wall-2