Swiss army ready to move in after 3 die in floods

ZURICH, June 10 (Reuters) Swiss troops are on standby to help clear up a trail of destruction in northern Switzerland after flash floods inundated villages and drowned three people.

An elderly woman died in the village of Eriswil, in Switzerland's picturesque Emmental region, when her home was engulfed and a couple were also swept to their deaths in the nearby hamlet of Huttwill after a river burst its banks yesterday.

''About fifty homes were destroyed in a small area. It was a very intense storm which was completely unforeseen by the meteorological services,'' said a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence and Civil Protection in Berne.

Violent storms are frequent in Switzerland in the summer and can wreak havoc by sending flood-water coursing down narrow valleys.

Troops were waiting for a request from local cantonal authorities to bring in earth-moving equipment to clear debris and to erect pontoon bridges to replace river crossings destroyed by the flooding, he said.

Reuters SLD RN1812