Avalanche buries resort street in Austria

An avalanche buried an Austrian ski resort’s street under more than 12 feet of snow today.

Police, caught by surprise, were searching to see if anyone was trapped in the 100-yard stretch just outside the town of Soelden in the western Alpine province of Tyrol.

Mayor Ernst Schoepf said up to 13 feet of snow covered parts of the Venterstrasse – a key local roadway leading in and out of the area.

Soelden hosts top World Cup ski competitions and draws hundreds of thousands of recreational skiers and snowboarders.

Authorities said there was heavy rainfall across the region in the hours preceding the avalanche, and suggested the poor weather might have triggered the slide.

Dozens of avalanches occur in Austria each year – many in spring, when thawing snow and ice pack makes slopes unstable – and a number prove fatal.