Mont Blanc glacier flood
Encyclopedia
The Mont Blanc glacier flood was a damaging flood
near Mont Blanc
, France
, that occurred in 1892. In the disaster, a subterranean glacial lake
burst from beneath the Tête Rousse glacier on the mountain and flooded the Saint Gervais
valley, killing 175 people.
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
near Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc or Monte Bianco , meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the Alps, Western Europe and the European Union. It rises above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, that occurred in 1892. In the disaster, a subterranean glacial lake
Glacial lake
A glacial lake is a lake with origins in a melted glacier. Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,000 years ago, glaciers began to retreat. A retreating glacier often left behind large deposits of ice in hollows between drumlins or hills. As the ice age ended, these melted to create...
burst from beneath the Tête Rousse glacier on the mountain and flooded the Saint Gervais
Saint-Gervais-les-Bains
Saint-Gervais-les-Bains is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.The village is best known for tourism, and has been a popular holiday destination because of its beauty and location since the Early 1900's....
valley, killing 175 people.