Lovatnet (also Loenvatnet) is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in the municipality of

Stryn Stryn is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Counties of Norway, county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Nordfjord. The administrative center of the municipality is the vi ...

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is located about southeast of the village of Loen and about east of the village of

Olden Olden may refer to: Places *Olden, Norway, a village in Stryn, Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway *Olden, Missouri, an unincorporated community *Olden, Texas, a community in Eastland county, Texas, USA People *Andrew Olden, birth name of actor Andr ...

. The lake lies just southwest of the mountain Skåla. The water from the lake flows down from the mountains; especially from the

Jostedalsbreen Jostedal Glacier or is the largest glacier in continental Europe. It is in Vestland county in Western Norway. Jostedalsbreen lies in the municipalities of Luster, Sogndal, Sunnfjord, and Stryn. The highest peak in the area is Lodalskåpa a ...

and

Tindefjellbreen Tindefjellbreen is a glacier in the municipality of Stryn in Vestland county, Norway. The glacier lies about east of the mountain Skåla, roughly halfway between the villages of Bødalen and Erdalen. The glacier is in the mountains east of ...

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s. It then flows out through the Loelva river into the Nordfjorden. Water from the tiered horsetail waterfall

Ramnefjellsfossen Ramnefjellsfossen (also known as: Utigardsfossen or Utigordsfossen) is unofficially listed as the third-highest waterfall in the world in several publications. On the other hand, The World Waterfall Database, a waterfall enthusiast website, which ...

with a total height of 818m flows into the lake from a short distance away, by some criteria among the highest dozen waterfalls in the world. It is fed by meltwater from the glacier Ramnefjellbreen, an arm of the

glacier.

Landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

s into the southern end of the lake from the mountain Ramnefjellet caused two major tsunamis in 1905 and 1936. On 15 January 1905, a landslide with a volume of fell into the lake from a height of , generating three

megatsunami A megatsunami is an incredibly large wave created by a substantial and sudden displacement of material into a body of water. Megatsunamis have different features from ordinary tsunamis. Ordinary tsunamis are caused by underwater tectonic activi ...

s of up to in height. The waves destroyed the villages of Bødal and Nesdal near the southern end of the lake, killing 61 people — half their combined population — and 261 farm animals and destroying 60 houses, all the local

boathouse A boathouse (or a boat house) is a building especially designed for the storage of boats, normally smaller craft for sports or leisure use. describing the facilities These are typically located on open water, such as on a river. Often the boats ...

s, and 70 to 80 boats, one of which — the tourist boat ''Lodalen'' — was thrown inland by the last wave and wrecked. At the northern end of the lake, a wave measured at almost in height destroyed a bridge.Hoel, Christer, "The Loen Accidents in 1905 and 1936," fjords.com Retrieved 22 June 2020
/ref>

Geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

s studied the 1905 event and concluded that little risk existed for future disasters like it, so the towns along the lake were rebuilt. However, on 13 September 1936, the second landslide occurred, with a volume of and falling from a height of , generating three megatsunamis, the largest of which reached a height of . The waves destroyed all farms at Bødal and most farms at Nesdal — completely washing away 16 farms — as well as 100 houses, bridges, a

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

, a

workshop Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

, a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

, several

grain mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separate ...

s, a restaurant, a schoolhouse, and all boats on the lake. The waves carried the wreck of the ''Lodalen'' a further inland. A wave struck the northern end of the lake and caused damaging flooding in the

Loelva River The Alna River''Berlitz: Oslo Pocket Guide''. 2013. London: Berlitz. () is a river that runs through Oslo, Norway, from Alnsjøen to the Oslo Fjord at Bjørvika. It also drains Breisjøen, Steinbruvann, Tokerudbekken, and Østensjøvannet. ...

, the lake's northern outlet. The waves killed 74 people and severely injured 11. The 1936 disaster resulted in the depopulation of the area.

References

Lakes of Vestland Stryn 1900s landslides 1905 natural disasters Landslides in Norway {{Vestland-geo-stub

See also

References