European Flooding Kills 43

This tidy town at the foot of the Bernese Alps -- normally packed with tourists and hikers this time of year -- was covered instead by mud and debris Friday after days of devastating flooding.

Soldiers guarded against looting, large sections were cordoned off, and residents counted the cost of the floods, which killed a mother and her daughter and destroyed homes.

“We are not free from the danger yet,” said Peter Fuchs, 50, who was born in Brienz and has lived his whole life in the town. “I have been lucky up to this point, but it could break and everything could come down again.”

The death toll from flooding in Switzerland and other parts of Europe rose Friday to 43.

Recovery operations were underway and high waters were slowly receding, but many areas remained under water and forecasters predicted more rain.

Floodwaters were so powerful that they flung vehicles into a pile of broken metal resembling a junkyard.

On Friday, authorities evacuated an old people’s home as well as two hotels.

In the Swiss capital of Bern, floodwaters from the Aare River lapped through gardens and houses in the evacuated quarter of Matte, where the mangled remains of bicycles lay where they were deposited by floodwaters.