*Heavy Rains, Flash Floods Leave 3 dead in Switzerland*

 From correspondents in Zurich

June 10, 2007 10:50pm
Article from: Reuters

SWISS troops are on standby to help clear up a trail of destruction in
northern Switzerland after flash floods inundated villages and drowned
three people.

An elderly woman died in the village of Eriswil, in Switzerland's
picturesque Emmental region, when her home was engulfed and a couple
were also swept to their deaths in the nearby hamlet of Huttwill after a
river burst its banks.

“About fifty homes were destroyed in a small area. It was a very intense
storm which was completely unforeseen by the meteorological services,”
said a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence and Civil Protection in Berne.

Violent storms are frequent in Switzerland in the summer and can wreak
havoc by sending flood-water coursing down narrow valleys.

Troops were waiting for a request from local cantonal authorities to
bring in earth-moving equipment to clear debris and to erect pontoon
bridges to replace river crossings destroyed by the flooding, he said.