Tafjord

Tafjord - darkometer rating : 2 - The site of yet another disastrous landslide causing a tsunami in a fjord in Norway (cf. Lovatnet ) and killing killed dozens of people as the sudden tidal wave washed over villages and took out several houses. > 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: It was on a warm spring morning on 7 April 1934 that a gigantic piece of rock fell from the mountain on northern side of the fjord into the waters of Tafjord. The sudden displacement of water by between 2 and 8 million cubic metres of rock (the sources vary quite wildly) caused a series of tsunami waves, the highest of which was allegedly over 200 feet (60 m) high! This wall of water swept almost half a mile (700 m) inland and up the slopes on the sides of the fjord, taking with it houses, livestock, everything. Worst hit were the villages of Fjøra and Tafjord at the head of the fjord. Some villagers managed to scramble up the steep mountainside in order to escape the flood – but for some 40 people it was too late. The only reason that this even more massive landslide-plus-tsunami disaster didn't claim even more lives – perhaps as many as in Lovatnet in 1905 and 1936 – is that this remote corner of the country was less populated. The danger of a repeat performance of the perilous mountain above Tafjord is far from over. On the contrary. Cracks in the mountain have to be carefully monitored by a radar installation some 2 miles (3 km) away. A warning system is now in place to avoid or at least minimize casualties if/when the mountain splits again … which is almost certain to happen one day … What there is to see: nothing that would be concrete evidence of the Tafjord tragedy.