Press "Enter" to skip to content

Moving day: Governor orders homes in avalanche-prone area of Lia to be evacuated until snow is gone

0 0
Read Time:2 Minute, 31 Second

It was just a matter of time – and that time is three days after the second anniversary of an avalanche that wiped out 11 homes in the neighborhood.

The evacuation of more than a dozen apartment buildings and other residences in an avalanche-prone section of Lia neighborhood near the center of Longyearbyen was ordered Thursday afternoon by Svalbard Gov. Kjerstin Askholt. The order, similar to one enacted during the past winter following a second avalanche that destroyed homes, takes effect Dec. 22 and will remain in effect “as long as there is a risk of avalanches in the area.”

vei226
Nearly all of the homes in the “at-risk” area of Vei 226 are already empty, as are most of the other homes where an evacuation order has been issued. Photo by Mark Sabbatini / Icepeople.

“The ban is justified because of the danger to the safety of individuals and the general public because the area is particularly vulnerable to avalanches,” Askholt said in a prepared statement “The current arrangement of combination of local avalanche warning system possible evacuation decisions based on the advice of avalanche professionals leaves too much residual risk and unpredictability for the homes in question to be inhabited during the winter as long as measures for avalanche protection of the buildings has not been implemented.”

Although a mild snowstorm is forecast during the middle of next week, the long-term forecast from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute through Dec. 23 calls for no other precipitation.

The buildings affected are those closest to the mountainside where the avalanches occurred. The address are: Vei 222-7, 222-9, 222-11, 222-13, 222-15, 222-17; and Vei 226-10, 226-12, 226-31, 226-33, 226-35, 226-37.

Askholt noted that the decision to evacuate homes this winter was announced in March and would take effect once there was an accumulation of snow on the mountain.

moving
Jon Bautz and his daughter Sofia, 4, will have to move out of their home on Vei 226 by Dec. 22. Photo by Mark Sabbatini / Icepeople.

Jon Bautz, living in one of only two homes in the affected area on Vei 226 that are still occupied, said he received a notice about the evacuation in the mail Thursday. He said he has lived in the house since 2012 and moving his family to a rented apartment will cost him an 20,600 kroner a month.

“I have to pay the bank for this one and Store Norske for the apartment,” he said.

“It’s sad because we like it here. There’s no cars and there’s a place for the kids to play.”

Bautz, who said they will leave most of their belongings in the house during the evacuation period, said he isn’t worried about an avalanche hitting his home and doesn’t believe there’s any current risk.

“If you look at the mountains you can SEE rocks,” he said.

 

 

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

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.
Happy
Happy
0 %
Sad
Sad
0 %
Excited
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
Angry
0 %
Surprise
Surprise
0 %

Average Rating

5 Star
0%
4 Star
0%
3 Star
0%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%