Westfiords in the North-Western corner.


Önundafirði
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Kirkjubol i Korpudal, in the bottom of Önundafirði, the very place my grandmother grew up.

Flateyri and Önundafirði. The left of the two valleys back in center of the picture,
is Korpudal, where my grandmother comes from.

View of Flateyri. Notice the wound in the slopes to the right of the town.

The village of Flateyri was hit by two major avalanches in 1995,
with the latter one killing 20 (34) of the 45 people caught in it.


....some conical earth mounds were placed above the town.
From the University of Leeds

Before that, here was some concern about avalanche danger, which explains why some
conical earth mounds were placed above the town. However, these defence structures were
not designed according to engineering criteria and were insufficient protection from a
major avalanche. This was the result:


Not much leftover in this house.



The deflecting dam built in response to the fatal avalanche of 1995
dominates the slopes above the town
From the University of Leeds

To protect the town against further disasters, a dam was built.
That means that when the next avalanche comes down the mountainslopes,
the dam will split the avalanche into two parts, and sending one to the left -
and the other to the right - outside the town.

Still there are not many houses where the avalanche once took most of the town
near the mountainslopes.

 

Isafjördur - on the other side of the mountainridge between here and Flateyri.

Isafjördur

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From Dyrafirði
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