A lake of water trapped behind a mass of glacial debris that buried a village and blocked a river in southern Switzerland this week has sparked fears of flooding in the Alpine valley, even as some water eased its way through the morass on Friday.

Flooding fears after glacier collapse buries picturesque Swiss village under mud and rock - A deluge of rock and ice careered down the Swiss Alps near a village that authorities had evacuated earlier

As of Thursday morning, all but one of the residents of Blatten, a village in the Lötschental Valley, are safe after a 52,000 cubic foot Birch Glacier collapsed over the town, covering 90 percent of the area with mud and icefall.