Alps Avalanches Prompt Evacuations and Upend Travel

LONDON — Winter snow is typically welcomed in the Alps, an area well-equipped to cope with the several inches of the white stuff.

But recent thaws followed by heavy rainfall have upended travel and led to evacuations in much of the region, as thick packs of snow dislodge and trigger avalanches.

It has been a winter of extreme weather on Europe’s highest peaks, with avalanches, flooding and biting cold threatening homes and causing trouble on roads and railways.

On Tuesday, a mudslide forced the closing of parts of the A2 highway in Switzerland, including the Gotthard Tunnel, one of the main thoroughfares running through the Alps. Heavy snowfall in the Swiss Alps, in certain places amounting to levels not seen since 2012, has disrupted travel to several ski resorts since the beginning of the year.

Towns like Zermatt have been periodically cut off from the outside world because of avalanche risks. In Davos, 6 feet of snow fell on the city in six days, before the arrival of world leaders and chief executives who are gathering there for the World Economic Forum this week.

Residents and vacationers in a remote mountain valley in South Tyrol, at the Italy-Austria border, were evacuated by helicopter Tuesday amid a high risk of avalanches after one struck nearby overnight.

Rail and road closings were ordered in the Austrian states of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, also due to the high risk of avalanches.

At the foot of Mont Blanc, chalets were evacuated, roads closed and most people grounded in Chamonix, France, as the authorities worked to secure the area from avalanches. On Tuesday night, as the risk receded, the authorities said that most restrictions would be lifted and that skiers could return to the slopes.

Farther afield, thawing snow combined with heavy rainfall caused the Rhine River to swell, and in the region around Paris the Seine burst its banks and prompted flood warnings.

The authorities said the Seine could reach levels in Paris comparable to a bout of heavy flooding in June 2016. During that time, rising waters forced the Louvre museum to move artwork to higher floors.

Several roads and tunnels along the river, and sections of a commuter train that snakes along the Seine, were shut down this week. But local officials remained confident that Paris would be prepared for whatever the flooding might bring.

“We are ready,” Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Twitter.