Geologists have feared for years that the Norwegian mountaintop known as “Mannen” will break off and crash to the ground below in the scenic valley of Rauma in Romsdal. On Friday afternoon they evacuated those living below once again.
State waterways and energy agency NVE, which is reponsible for monitoring the unstable mountainside, raised its warning level to the highest (red) on Friday. They feared that the heavy rain and winds forecast for Friday night and Saturday, remnants of the storm hitting Oslo and much of Southern Norway Friday afternoon, will finally be enough to set off an enormous rock slide.
Geologist Gudrun Dreiås Majala told state broadcaster NRK that the mountain’s movements were clocked at 3cm a day, and as high as 8cm at one point. “The mountain has been responding much faster than it has earlier to just the little bit of rain we’ve had,” Majala told NRK. “That gives us a signal of how unstable the mountain is.”
newsinenglish.no staff
