VIDEO – "La montagne est tombée" : éboulement impressionnant ce jeudi à La Rivière, près de Rovon pic.twitter.com/vlvpDI37Dm
— France Bleu Isère (@francebleuisere) July 25, 2024
On X, images of a massive section of the mountain breaking away and falling into the void were published. “A mini mountain has crossed the departmental road, we now need to know if there are people still underneath”, commented to France Bleu the mayor of La Riviere, Raymond Rolland, who also specified on Thursday evening that “the situation [was] not yet stabilized”. and that "blocks continued to descend". Still according to information from France Bleu, a first landslide had been observed this Thursday, early afternoon. It was therefore followed later by a second, particularly spectacular one.
Jean-Christophe et Lucas, un père et son fils, habitent La Rivière. Ils ont tenté d'aller secourir de potentielles victimes, en vain (images envoyées à France Bleu Isère). pic.twitter.com/HTQu9NrDtw
— France Bleu Isère (@francebleuisere) July 25, 2024
On local radio, local residents describe a kind of “earthquake” at the time of the landslide, “like the feeling of a fighter plane flying over us.” On the road, between 15 and 20 meters of earth are now stuck together. In addition to any motorists who may have been on the road at the wrong time, the authorities were also concerned about the quarry employees on Thursday evening. The site manager was on site to ensure that everyone had left safely after the work day, around 4 p.m.
⚠️ Un spectaculaire éboulement vient de se produire à Saint Gervais au niveau de la carrière de La Rivière.
Grande prudence si vous êtes dans le secteur.
Photo de Kentin Ruel pic.twitter.com/bk2c0lvqIE— Météo Centre-Isère (@MeteoIsere) July 25, 2024
In an update on the situation, at around 10 p.m. Thursday evening, the prefecture reported that around fifty firefighters and five dog teams were working on site to try to find possible victims. Earlier, the prefecture had also indicated on X that a power outage had been observed in the neighborhood near the landslide and called on motorists to avoid the area. The search was finally interrupted at 11 p.m. due to the lack of stability of the terrain and the risk of further accidents due to the darkness, the prefecture said. The search will resume Friday morning, but at this stage, there is no indication that there are any potential victims. “No missing persons have been reported,” she added.