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08. 11. 12. - 15:00

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08. 11. 12. - 15:00

Rock On

Kathryn Quinn

With the diameter of a small apartment block this giant stone was easily large enough to completely block the Alpine Julierstrasse Road between Rona and Mulegns in Switzerland.

Local mayor Adolf Poltera, 67, said: "We have had a few problems with stones on the road so we put up a protective wall – but against a block this size nothing helps. I must admit I've never seen a block quite this big come off the mountain – I'm only glad that there was no one on the road at the time."

The eighty square meter rock knocked fully grown trees aside as if they were matchwood as it was crashing through voltage electricity through before coming to rest exactly in the middle of the road – completely blocking it to traffic.

Emergency services said that they expected that the clean-up work would take some time not just in breaking up the rock – but also in securing the many other rocks that it knocked loose on its way down the slope.

As a result they first built a temporary road further away from the giant stone to allow traffic to flow and to keep other vehicles away from further possible rockfalls.

Local Martin Ruth, 24, whose car was caught in the traffic jam that formed the next day said: "There are signs warning beware of the rocks – but I don't think even the tank would have survived if that rock had landed on it."

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