It was just after 06:00 that the police received a report that there had been a landslide on county road 55 Lustravegen. A river had flown over and carried stones and logs down the mountainside. No houses, people or animals were affected by the avalanche, the police said. Arnt Ove Fjøsne filmed the avalanche that entered his farm. The landslide reached the county road, which was completely closed for a period. The road was opened just before 08.00 for manual routing at Naustknubben, west of Skjolden. – A slightly shaken Arnt Ove Fjøsne is among the residents in the area affected by the landslide. Arnt Ove Fjøsne’s barn has been hit by the landslide. Three caravans and a tractor are parked here. Photo: Arnt Ove Fjøsne The road to his residential building is completely destroyed. A stone’s throw away is his barn. Among other things, there are three caravans and a tractor parked nearby. – They are half buried by masses, says Fjøsne. He is unsure how things are going with the business building. – There are such large amounts of water there, so I don’t dare leave yet, says the parish to news on Monday morning. He says it was a dramatic and tough start to the day. – I’m a bit shaken, says Fjøsne, who woke up from the collapse at 05.45 today and notified the police soon after. He thinks it could be a block of ice that has loosened in the river. Manual routing at the site Police rushed to the race area after they received the message, says operations manager Stine Mjelde in the West police district. The road was cleared so that it was possible to pass through the place. Vegtrafikksentralen expects that there will be manual routing for several more hours. According to Mjelde, an assessment will be made as to whether the road can be fully reopened. – An assessment must be made as to whether there may be even more masses, says Mjelde. A contractor is on site and cleaning up, informs Vegtrafikksentralen west. This job can take several hours. No danger of more landslides The geologist was up on the mountainside by helicopter at around 11.00. 1100 meters above sea level there are two lakes. A traffic jam has formed here, says Eivind Yttri, section leader in Vestland county municipality. The plug continued down before it took a different direction when it approached the road. Here it ended up over the county road and not through the culvert. – Is there a risk of more landslides? – No, we think there is no danger of more landslides. Yttri says there is minor damage, both on the road and at the culvert. Traffic will pass on Monday afternoon with manual routing, but will soon return to normal, says Yttri. Has consequences for the whole municipality The fact that the road mainly through Luster has been hit by landslides is a challenge for many. That’s what Luster mayor Ivar Kvalen says. See Tage Skjaak Moen’s drone video of the collapse. – Both for the school bus, people going to work and for emergency vehicles. Now we hope that the road can open completely, says Kvalen. He says the river took another course and dragged loose masses and mud down the county road. There has probably been landslides in the area before, he says. NVE: Working to find out the cause Jan Bakke Flore, responsible for the western region of NVE, says they are working to find out what has happened. – The river has probably blocked up in one way or another, says Flore, and adds that ice jams may be a cause. – We have to find out if there is an acute danger of the river overflowing and eroding, or if the incident is over. We need to find out as soon as possible. NVE reports that the spring flume is underway due to heavy and persistent snowmelt. Several rivers in northern and southern Norway have flood warnings at orange level. This is what it looks like in Luster after Monday’s landslide. Photo: Tage Skjaak Moen Rain is expected in parts of southern Norway in the next few days. According to varsom.no, it can lead to damage in several rivers in Southern and Eastern Norway. Flore in NVE also says that Western Norway will notice the flow of meltwater and large rivers, but not an abnormally large flood. – Unless there are blockages in rivers, no damage is expected, says Flore. Awoken by the noise Tage Skjaak Moen and his wife were woken up by the collapse last night. – We woke up to the noise, I went out on the veranda to see. Then I saw that the cars started to drive slowly past and finally it came to a complete stop. This is what it looks like in Luster after the collapse last night. Photo: Tage Skjaak Moen When Moen, who lives nearby, came to the town, he was greeted by water, logs and stones. – At the crossing by the bridge, where the water is actually supposed to flow under, it has been filled up, and water and soil masses have flown over. It is not yet clear how much damage the flume has caused. – It’s hard to say, but I see that the neighbor’s yard down the road is well filled with rubble, so they probably have a good cleaning job ahead of them, says Tage Skjaak Moen.
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Arnt Ove was embarrassed right over his property – news Vestland
