The 1995 Flateyri avalanche was an avalanche that struck the village of

Flateyri Flateyri ( Icelandic: ) is a village situated in Iceland's Westfjords. It is part of the municipality of Ísafjarðarbær and has a population of approximately 200, making it the largest settlement in Önundarfjörður. History Flateyri has be ...

in Iceland’s

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords ( is, Vestfirðir , ISO 3166-2:IS: IS-4) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district, the least populous administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coas ...

on 26 October 1995, killing 20 people. It came 8 months after an avalanche in Súðavík killed 14 people. The disasters had a profound effect on the nation and sparked a massive buildup of avalanche dams to protect towns in danger zones. The avalanche fell from Skollahvilft at around 4:00 AM, and destroyed 17 houses. 45 people were in the houses hit by the avalanche, 21 managed to escape on their own and four were later rescued alive.

References

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External links

1995 Flateyri avalanche
on

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) (pronounced or ) ( en, 'The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service') is Iceland's national public-service broadcasting organization. Operating from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional cent ...

1990s avalanches 1995 natural disasters Avalanches in Iceland October 1995 events in Europe