Tuesday 9th January 2018, early in the morning an avalanche descended the Bourgeat couloir close to Taconnaz in the commune of Les Houches (Haute-Savoie).
According to le Dauphine, the avalanche started a little before 8am, in the sector called route du Pont (998m).
According to the preliminary information, about forty chalets of the hameau "Le Pont" and Boiron sector, on the right bank, were hit by this avalanche.
The damage is only material: a few destroyed cars, fallen trees and the Chamonix-Passy highvoltage line was severed.
The competent authorities are already on-site to assess the damage and to carry out emergency repairs.
According to the firefighters, the avalanche started at a fairly high altitude and slid down the Bourgeat couloir, located next to the Taconnaz couloir and also equipped with an avalanche snow bridge. The authorities stored a large part of the snow, but the snow overflowed and continued its course on 500m approximately, whitening the facades of the chalets until the hotel Rocky Pop, located at the edge of the road 205.
There were no reported victims.
Check out the press release issued by the the prefecture of Haute-Savoie
The Bourgeat avalanche - commune of Les Houches - 09/01/2018
High risk of avalanche in the Mont-Blanc massif
Bad weather conditions with heavy snowfalls in the high mountains since the past few days.
Météo France has placed the Mont-Blanc massif in high risk level (4/5) for avalanches, so precautionary measures remain in force especially for the mountain trips.
The local authorities are advising extreme caution in the next few days for those going into the mountains: all mountain activities, mainly ski or snowshoeing. Even if a person is equipped with shovels, probes, avalanche detectors, these tools do not prevent the risk.
For the next few days, off-piste practices are therefore strongly discouraged.
