Felbertauernstraße free again from 11.30 a.m
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Today at 11.30 a.m. the Felbertauernstraße between Mittersill (Pinzgau) and Osttirol will be reopened to traffic. The mudslide damage was repaired to such an extent that the road is passable again.
However, restrictions such as a speed limit and construction site traffic are to be expected, according to Felbertauernstrassen AG. The clean-up work after the mudslide on Monday evening went “at high pressure”. Motorists should be on the Website of the Felbertauernstrasse inform about the current situation, advised the authorities in East Tyrol.
Heavy rain again: earth walls are supposed to protect buildings
Heavy rain is again forecast for Wednesday evening and Thursday night in the region. This could not only have consequences for the Felbertauerntstraße. Earthworks are also heaped up in the Felbertal. So the emergency services try to protect the houses from possible further mudslides.
“Of course, earthmoving companies will clear out all the trenches,” said Mittersill’s local fire brigade commander, Roland Rauchenbacher. “We are dealing with very large amounts of rubble – that means we need heavy equipment, a heavy excavator. An excavator always has a certain travel time. We talked to the landowners, looked at objects where we can minimize damage. We then already took preventive measures – we said that we would fill up earthworks so that the water that comes down from above WILL be diverted accordingly.”
On Monday evening, mudflows ripped away cars in the Felbertal valley, filled garages with rubble weighing tons and buried the Felbertauernstraße up to two meters high. A mudslide also crashed in a residential building.
Salzach level: high on Tuesday
Due to the heavy rain, the level of the Salzach in Mittersill rose to a rapid 4.80 meters on Tuesday – well above alarm level one. Since then, however, the water has been sinking again. Wednesday morning the level was almost three meters. In the Oberpinzgau municipality, flood protection measures have been improved in recent months. Walls and dams were widened, and the Salzach was widened in some places.