More evacua­tions on the anni­ver­sa­ry of the 2015 ava­lan­che in Lon­gye­ar­by­en

Update (21 Decem­ber): The wea­ther has cal­med down again and after che­cking rele­vant ava­lan­che-pro­ne slo­pes, the aut­ho­ri­ties have deci­ded to lift the traf­fic ban that was imple­men­ted on Mon­day.
The evacua­tions from last week, con­cer­ning the upper row of hou­ses in Lia, remains in force until fur­ther noti­ce (end of update).

It seems almost stran­ge: exact­ly 2 years after the fatal ava­lan­che in Lon­gye­ar­by­en, the wea­ther fore­cast for today (19 Decem­ber) seems almost exact­ly the same as it was just befo­re snow mas­ses kil­led two peo­p­le in their homes on 19 Decem­ber, 2015. Winds up to 20 m/s from sou­the­as­ter­ly direc­tions and strong pre­ci­pi­ta­ti­on are expec­ted during the evening.

For tonight, a com­me­mo­ra­ti­on cerem­o­ny was sche­du­led for the vic­tims of the fatal 2015 ava­lan­che. But it seems as if many people’s atten­ti­on will rather be deman­ded by today’s situa­ti­on and events. Some days ago, the Sys­sel­man­nen had alre­a­dy issued an order to evacua­te parts of Lon­gye­ar­by­en. This was to be in force on 22 Decem­ber and based on the gene­ral ava­lan­che risk, rather than the actu­al wea­ther and ava­lan­che situa­ti­on. After new wea­ther fore­casts were released, this mea­su­re came into force alre­a­dy yes­ter­day (18 Decem­ber) at 22 p.m.

At the same time, the evacua­ti­on zone was exten­ded to include more hou­ses in Lia, the part of Lon­gye­ar­by­en that was hit in 2015 (“Spiss­hus­e­ne”, the colou­red woo­den hou­ses bet­ween the cent­re and the moun­tain Suk­ker­top­pen) and parts of Nyby­en (all hou­ses on the east side of the road).

The evacua­tions are in force until fur­ther noti­ce. Some addres­ses may not be acces­si­ble for months.

Lar­ge parts of Nyby­en and Lia in Lon­gye­ar­by­en are now evacua­ted becau­se of the cur­rent and gene­ral ava­lan­che risk.

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