'Heavenly' Pakistan mountain town becomes site of ruin

Workers repair a suspended cradle damaged by flash floods on the banks of river Swat after heavy rains in Bahrain town of Swat valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on August 31, 2022. — AFP 

BAHRAIN: Bahrain is a town in ruins — reduced to rubble by the incredible force of flash floods that swelled the river running through it, severing a lifeline bridge. Hundreds of settlements in Pakistan's north have been cut off by monsoon rains that came to a head last week, causing the worst floods in the country's history. But in the past few days, the heavily damaged road heading through the Swat Valley has slowly opened up, revealing the extent of the destruction. In Bahrain, hotels have disappeared, the town's mosque is a bare shell, and waist-high water still gushes through the main bazaar. "It was a heavenly place but now it is a wreckage," Muhammad Asif, a 22-year-old college student, told AFP on Wednesday. "In the past week, everything has changed dramatically. The river added to the beauty, but now it is a threat." The town usually bustles with more than a thousand summer tourists every day, drawn by majestic mountain views from hotels and restaurants perched on the riverbank. It will likely take years for them to return, and with tourists gone, the fear of economic ruin is also setting in. "My hotel is still partly under water," said Muhammad Nawaz, whose 40 employees at his various establishments are now jobless. "I am pulling sand out of my restaurant and searching for furniture in the ruins." The road north ends at the edge of the Swat River, where the bridge that once connected the two halves of the town is now a mass of debris. Rickety wooden planks stand in its place, crossed by men carrying sacks of rice, flour and sugar to their villages — hours away by foot. Further north, their valleys remain cut off.

Desperate for help

What was once a 20-minute journey by motorbike for Karim Farman is now close to a four-hour walk over crumbling roads. No help has reached his flooded village of Balakot yet. "We are desperate for any sort of assistance. We are in dire need of medicine, it is very tough to bring patients here," said Muhammad Amir, who is from the same village.

Flood-affected people stand in a queue as they wait to receive food packets at Bahrain town of Swat valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on August 31, 2022. — AFP

"There has been no electricity in our village for nearly a week, people don't even have a candle for light. Several people are sick with diarrhoea." Bahrain's destruction unfolded late last Thursday night. Many locals reported not receiving any warnings, but as the river rapidly rose tourists began to evacuate from hotels. Like in many riverside villages and towns, locals believed only the homes on the banks were vulnerable. But just hours later the full scale of the water's rage became clear. "In a few minutes the water suddenly encircled my shop from every side," said Aftab Khan. "I couldn't take anything with me because I had to save my life." The army arrived on Wednesday, local residents said, to oversee the chaos of diggers clearing rubble and to manage the flow of foot traffic across the river. Helicopters fly overhead, dropping food packages to the stranded valleys. A district government official who asked not to be named told AFP it could be months before the road and bridge are repaired. "Before, this place was like a paradise but now even locals want to escape," said restaurant owner Sheer Bahadur.

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Switzerland's mountain pass set to lose all ice within weeks

Since at least the Roman era, the pass between Scex Rouge and Tsanfleuron glaciers has remained iced but it will be completely ice-free before summer is out, claims Glacier 3000 ski resort.

"No one has set foot here for over 2,000 years; that's very moving," says Glacier 3000. (AFP Archive)

The thick layer of ice that has covered a Swiss mountain pass for centuries will melt away completely within a few weeks, a ski resort has warned.

While the ice measured around 50 feet thick in 2012, the ground underneath "will have completely resurfaced by the end of September," the Glacier 3000 ski resort said in a statement on Thursday.

Following a dry winter, the summer heat waves hitting Europe have been catastrophic for the Alpine glaciers, which have been melting at an accelerated rate.

But as both, the Scex Rouge and Tsanfleuron, glaciers have retreated, the bare rock of the ridge between the two is beginning to emerge –– and will be completely ice-free before the summer is out.

"The pass will be entirely in the open air in a few weeks," the ski resort said.

The pass between both glaciers has remained iced at least since the Roman era. 

The ridge is at an altitude of 9,186 feet in the Glacier 3000 ski domain and effectively marks the border between the Vaud and Wallis cantons in western Switzerland.

Covers put on sections of Tsanfleuron glacier

Skiers could glide over the top from one glacier to the other. But now a strip of rock between them has emerged, with just the last remaining bit of ice left.

"No one has set foot here for over 2,000 years; that's very moving," said Glacier 3000 chief executive Bernhard Tschannen.

The Scex Rouge glacier is likely to turn into a lake within the next 10 to 15 years. 

The ski resort is working out how to adapt to the new reality if people cannot ski between the two glaciers.

"We are planning to renew the facilities in this area in the coming years, and one idea would be to shift the route of the current chairlift to allow more direct access to the Tsanfleuron glacier," said Tschannen.

Covers have been put on sections of the Tsanfleuron glacier near the pass to protect them from the heat.

Glaciologist Mauro Fischer, a researcher at Bern University, said the loss of thickness of the glaciers in the region will be on average three times higher this year compared to the last 10 summers.

In the past two weeks, two human skeletons were found on glaciers in Wallis.

Work is under way to try to identify the remains. According to the Swiss news agency ATS, the Wallis police have a list of some 300 people who have gone missing since 1925.

Source: AFP

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