Lovatnet

Lovatnet - darkometer rating : 3 - The site of two massive landslides that caused tsunamis that swept away villages on the shores of Lovatnet lake killing several dozens of villagers on both occasions. It was one of the worst natural disasters in the modern history of Norway . The place where the rocks that fell from the mountainside have created "new land" on the lake is a kind of pilgrimage site today. You can also see wrecks of boats swept away and crushed by the waves. A tragic place set in impossibly beautiful scenery on the edge of the great Jostedalsbreen glacier ... such a Norwegian juxtaposition. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: Scenic as the steep-sided valleys and fjords of Norway may be, sometimes they also pose terrible risks to the people living in them. Mt Ramnefjell in Lodalen is an especially deadly example. Twice in the 20th century it caused major tragedies when huge landslides from its steep slope crashed into Lovatnet lake below triggering tidal waves that swept away entire villages on the lake's shores. The first of these occurred in 1905, on 15 January, when a huge, ca. 350,000 cubic metres chunk of the mountainside plummeted into the lake below and caused a surging wave at the bottom, which on hitting the shoreline built up into a massive tsunami. The nearby villages of Bødal and Nesdal were all but obliterated and 63 people perished. Only 9 of the bodies were ever found. The survivors rebuilt their villages, on somewhat higher ground and in the belief that such a tragedy couldn't possibly happen again. On 13 September 1936, however, it did, this time even worse.