After a massive mudslide in the summer of 2023, residents of the town of Terpetzen in Carinthia were not allowed to return to their homes for two months. And neighboring Klein St. Veit was flooded several times.
“The danger has not yet been averted; something could happen again at any moment,” fears Jakob Christof. He has lived in Terpetzen near Klein St. Veit for over 60 years. He will never forget August 5 last year, when tons of mud thundered past his house: “It was terrible!” Margarete Kucher also remembers: “The mud flow thundered through our garden. The uneasy feeling has remained ever since.” The residents of the single-family homes in the affected area had to be brought to safety. Christof: “We were not allowed to go to our homes for two months.”
“That was crazy!”
A slope was full of cracks and threatened to slide away. “That was crazy! Just a few years earlier, freezing rain had destroyed parts of the forest and last year the storm broke the trees like matchsticks,” says neighbor and firefighter Johannes Laßnig. He had been digging in the houses for weeks to remove material. “Hundreds of loads of rubble were removed in trucks,” says landowner Erich Zeiner. The torrent and avalanche control staff have now done an excellent job. A retention basin was built above the houses. Metres-high earth walls were built in the danger zone next to the houses.
Major problems with heavy rain
FF commander Bernhard Zeiner: “They have to divert material away in an emergency.” But during heavy rain, residents would have to leave. There were also enormous problems in Klein St. Veit. Zeiner: “The place was flooded eight times.” Therefore, a surface water retention basin should be constructed near Seeberg Straße. Deputy Mayor Peter Wedenig: “The residents must play their part, a cooperative must be established.” Two million euros are being invested.
Source: Krone
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