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tunnel was then drilled for safety reasons. A week later the level of the lake reached 10 metres below the tunnel. On 27 May an enormous piece of ice detached itself from the cone in the lake and floated to the surface while making terrible noise; everybody escaped. They went back to work two days later. The 198 metre-long hole was completed on 4 June. Other large pieces of ice detached from the cone and floated back. The waters finally reached the level of the hole on 13 June, 22:00. They continued to rise until 14 June, when the level of the lake began to fall because of the erosion of the hole by the waterfall. Some water also ran out from the base of the cone. Only two men stayed in place; Venetz warned the inhabitants of the valley of the danger. On the morning of 16 June, terrible noises and violent detonations were heard. The cone began to crack. A group of
British tourists and a drawer from Lausanne visited the place with Venetz. In the afternoon, Venetz and the workers escaped to the heights of Fionnay.
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Finally, at 16:30, the dam broke and 18 million m of water invaded the valley. Half an hour later the lake was empty. The flood reached the village of Bagnes 10 minutes later; the alert was given to
Martigny before 18:00, but too late. The wave invaded Martigny-Bourg a few minutes later. The rise of
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was called by the canton. To stop the rapid rise of waters, he decided to drill a hole through the ice. The work began one day later. A tunnel was drilled from the two sides, about 20 metres above the level of the lake. An avalanche of ice occurred on 18 May but without any casualties. A secondary
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was recorded in 1595, and caused 140 deaths. More recently in 1818 a similar lake outburst flood occurred killing 44 people. In the latter case a hole was drilled through the glacier to limit the level of waters.
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of the terminus. A lake was formed but it emptied on 27 May 1817 without causing any fatalities. In April 1818 the lake measured about 2 km in length. On 10 May 1818, the engineer
215:(3,875 m). On the upper part, the glacier is relatively flat. It descends to the north on the side of Mont Rouge du Giétro and then curves to the west between
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172:. The 1818 Giétro Glacier catastrophe, which led to a lake outburst flood, is one of the most famous and most disastrous historical cases in the
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The Giétro
Glacier is known to have caused many deaths in the valley during historical times. The earliest known
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and Mont Rouge. On the lower part, the glacier reaches a steepness of 40% forming a large number of
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through the Col du
Cheilon (3,243 m). The water generated by the glacier ends in the
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is located at about 2,750 metres. Part of the glacier is linked to the
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the waters was observed along the Rhone, at 19:00 in
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The ice cone which obstructed the valley in 1818 (by
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The Giétro
Glacier lies on the northern side of the
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267:After an increase of the glacier during the "
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324:. World Glacier Monitoring Service
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110:5.3 km (2.0 sq mi)
396:Swiss glacier monitoring network
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302:List of glaciers in Switzerland
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192:. It is located in the upper
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126:3,820 m (12,530 ft)
421:Glacial lake outburst floods
134:2,750 m (9,020 ft)
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261:glacial lake outburst flood
253:Arnold Escher von der Linth
118:4.45 km (2.77 mi)
40:Giétro Glacier, August 2007
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360:Les glaciers en mouvement
322:"Glacier du Giétro, Alps"
168:located in south-western
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188:in the Swiss canton of
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123:Highest elevation
16:Glacier in Switzerland
358:Zryd, Amédée (2008),
269:Year Without a Summer
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209:Mont Blanc de Cheilon
131:Lowest elevation
243:Glacier catastrophes
91:45.99500°N 7.38833°E
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411:Glaciers of Valais
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373:978-2-88074-770-1
162:Glacier du Giétro
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96:45.99500; 7.38833
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326:. Retrieved
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186:Pennine Alps
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290:Lake Geneva
217:Le Pleureur
213:La Ruinette
196:, south of
180:Description
170:Switzerland
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69:Coordinates
62:Switzerland
405:Categories
308:References
174:Swiss Alps
79:45°59′42″N
390:Swisstopo
221:crevasses
82:7°23′18″E
296:See also
225:terminus
198:Martigny
142:Receding
54:Location
202:Verbier
166:glacier
416:Bagnes
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328:31 May
273:seracs
223:. The
190:Valais
158:French
139:Status
115:Length
58:Valais
237:Rhone
392:maps
368:ISBN
330:2019
200:and
148:The
107:Area
46:Type
152:or
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