Authorities say a small Alpine river dammed by a landslide that largely buried the Swiss village of Blatten is now flowing through the debris, and the level of a newly created lake that raised worries about potential new destruction has fallen.

In the Swiss valley of Lötschental, a dramatic landslide nearly destroyed the mountain village of Blatten entirely. A massive avalanche of ice and rocks swept away the buildings. As reported by the German newspaper "Bild,

The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts say.

The New York Times reports that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the Alps are heating up at about nearly twice the global average rate. They also said that in 2022 and 2023, Swiss glaciers lost 10 percent of their water volume. The BBC warns that all of the Swiss glaciers could be gone this century.