In Switzerland, part of the A13 highway was washed away due to bad weather. After the A2, this is the most important north-south link in that country. Police expect recovery to take months. This is bad news as summer vacation approaches. Car traffic to and from Italy often chooses the A13 with the San Bernardino pass to avoid traffic jams in the Gotthard Tunnel on the A2.

“There is little hope that we will be able to reuse the highway in the foreseeable future,” the police chief of canton Graubünden told Swiss media. “It will take months, maybe even a year to recover.” He expects a lot of extra traffic on the A2.

A spokesman for the Swiss Ministry of Public Works appears more cautious. According to him, the exact duration of recovery cannot be predicted. If conditions permit, it will start tomorrow. According to the spokesman, it is certain that this part of the A13 cannot be used in the coming days.

Southeastern Switzerland has experienced severe weather in recent days. Thousands of people were forced to leave their homes due to the raging mountain streams flooding their banks. A woman was rescued alive this morning from a cliff. Three people are still missing. Elsewhere in Switzerland, rivers also burst their banks during extreme weather.