AVALANCHE UPDATE: Three-tier risk map rates Nybyen, snowslide vicinity highest, Gamle Sykehuset and border areas of slide zone at medium
By Mark Sabbatini on December 20, 2015
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Residents may be allowed to return Monday to homes considered least at-risk, Svalbard Gov. Kjerstin Askholt said at a community meeting Sunday night.
Experts surveying the area Sunday rated evacuated zones on a three-tier system. A map at the meeting showed homes along Vei 230 except for those already buried by Saturday’s avalanche are low risk; homes at Vei 224, portions of Vei 226 and Gamle Sykehuset are medium risk; and homes at Vei 222,Vei 228 and portions of Vei closest to the mountain are high risk (shown in yellow in the map).
All of Nybyen, access to which has been completely blocked, is not shown on the map, but “all of that’s level three, I’m afraid,” Askholt said following the meeting.
She said another assessment of medium-risk homes is scheduled Monday.
(Click to enlarge): A map shows avalanche risk areas in the central part of Longyearbyen as of Sunday night. Green areas surrounded by red are considered low risk, other green areas are medium risk, while yellow areas are high risk. All of Nybyen, not shown, is in the high-risk category. Photo by Mark Sabbatini / Icepeople.
I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation.
Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads.
But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation.
Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads.
But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
One thought on “AVALANCHE UPDATE: Three-tier risk map rates Nybyen, snowslide vicinity highest, Gamle Sykehuset and border areas of slide zone at medium”
The extended family of Alex Pilditch really appreciate being able to keep up to date with developments in Longyearbyen.
We all send our very best wishes to you all at this difficult time.
Thank-you very much Mark for posting so often under such disrupted circumstances.
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URGENT PLEA – Icepeople’s website and editor need help NOW to avoid homelessness
It’s crazy enough being someone from “elsewhere” in Svalbard – help ensure this “other” at least has a home for his newspaper and himself!
There have been some moments of true desperation during our 13-year history. This is one of them.
Icepeople is again facing an immediate existential crisis due (of course) to hardships largely inflected by the pandemic. In short, 1) the website needs $22 U.S. (190 NOK) to stay online for another month and 2) the editor needs any and all help possible to avoid homelessness in the middle of polar winter (not that it’s legal here any other time of the year).
So if you appreciate Icepeople for its unique stories about Svalbard and/or critical news during these critical times, as well as its features about the more colorful aspects of life here (today’s feature about the upcoming Polarjazz festival is for the event that first drew our editor’s attention to Svalbard way back in 2008) please do whatever you can during what are admittedly incredibly harsh times for many.
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The extended family of Alex Pilditch really appreciate being able to keep up to date with developments in Longyearbyen.
We all send our very best wishes to you all at this difficult time.
Thank-you very much Mark for posting so often under such disrupted circumstances.