A massive avalanche happened in South Tyrol region of Italy, close to the Austrian border, late last week, almost taking out an entire village. A local farmer caught the incident on video and uploaded it to YouTube.
Thomas Ennemoser, a farmer from Pill, a small village in the Italian Alps, caught the huge avalanche on video from a safe position, across the valley.
Along with other residents, Ennemoser watched in horror as the avalanche grew and slowly descended, almost taking out some houses along the way.
In the video you can see the avalanche as it builds up and barrels downhill, but it is not until around three minutes in that the vast amount of snow involved becomes apparent.
At that stage, barreling snow meets pine trees, and the group of trees couldn't stand up to the pressure, breaking and then adding to the debris pouring down the mountainside.
Apparently 25 residents in the area were evacuated by car and helicopter before the worst of the slide hit and no one was injured.
The whole South Tyrol region is, however, under critical avalanche alerts, due to the extreme amount of snowfall in the area. Reportedly in December, nine people died within four days from similar avalanches.
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