Driftwood ball reminds us of the destructive power.
Reto Hänny, writer from Tschappina: Text excerpt from “Chiaroscuro” [p. 162 – 163] (1994):
When the rumble rolled down the ravine? Can you remember the dull rumbling, the shaking under your feet; or do you only know all of this from your grandfather’s stories? [...] Pieces of land, hills, then the whole slope, begin to slide, to sag, slowly, barely visible at first, barely a tremor in the branches, then, if you look a moment later, suddenly more quickly, they begin to rise up, to fall over, alders and firs, wedging themselves together, are thrown together like Mikado sticks, stones, splintering wood, fences and broken trunks, whose bare roots protrude from the blue-black mush, clawing in vain for support in the rain-shaded air, dancing over the ditch and down on the mudslide [...]" Trees, rocks, houses, nothing on the Heinzenberg was safe from the raging mountain stream Nolla. The Nolla is a stream with extraordinary power, which shaped the landscape over a wide area and taught the inhabitants of Heinzenberg and Domleschg to fear. When the water level was high, the Nolla carried so much debris, such as rubble or driftwood, down from the Heinzenberg that it literally piled up to form a dam in front of the valley floor, until the force of the water swept these walls away again, triggering a strong flood wave.