2024 storm damage cost close to CHF 1bn

The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research has released its 2024 severe weather report - and the toll is grim.

Thirteen people lost their lives, three remain missing and damage costs reached close to a billion francs. 

That makes 2024 the costliest year since 2005 and the fifth most expensive since records began in 1972.

June last year was particularly devastating, with torrential rains and floods hitting eastern and central Switzerland, and catastrophic mudflows striking canton Valais.

In Ticino, the Maggia Valley was hardest hit: rivers swept away bridges, homes, and infrastructure. Entire hamlets were buried, and seven people died in one single night.

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