GENEVA (AFP) - Heavy rainfall in the Swiss Alps triggered flood warnings in Switzerland and forced authorities to stop barge traffic on the Swiss portion of the river Rhine.
Water seeped into a small riverside strip of the Swiss capital Bern, where city authorities banned local road traffic as a precaution.
Authorities in the Swiss town of Thun put the local population on flood alert after the nearby lake rose to danger level.
Lake Thun, 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of the Swiss capital Bern and on the edge of the Alps, exceeded the high water level of 558.3 metres (1680 feet) above sea-level early on Thursday, a town council spokesman said.
But the rise appeared to be subsiding and defences limited flooding to about a dozen cellars, he added.
Fire services and civil protection units worked overnight into Thursday to help people seal their ground floor entrances and cellars, and the 41,700 inhabitants were advised to listen to the radio.
"We are expecting the situation to ease," Thun spokesman Juerg Alder told AFP.
Boat traffic was halted on the river Rhine between the Swiss town of Rheinfelden and Kembs in France after it went past the high water mark.
The river authority said the ban was likely to stay in place through Friday and Saturday.
The rainfall added to high water levels normally reported at the end of spring because of melting snow on Alpine peaks.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... flood_thun
Heavy rainfall in Alps prompts flood warnings in Switzerland
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