Snow avalanche stopped by a catching dam
Siglufjörður protected
A snow avalanche released from the mountain slope above the village of Siglufjörður in northern Iceland was stopped by a protective dam, most likely on 12 December.
The avalanche started in a gully below a shelf in the middle of the mountainside at approximately 340 m a.s.l. It flowed down the gully and onto a road above a recently constructed catching dam which is a short distance above the uppermost houses in the village. The avalanche hit the dam along a more than 50 m distance and left rocks and branches that it picked up on its way on the damside. It was approximately 2 m short of reaching the top of the dam and threw some snow clods over the dam crown.
It is likely that the avalanche would have reached close to or hit the uppermost houses if it had not been stopped by the dam.
