Rainy landslides kill at least one in Norway

Heavy rainfall in western Norway triggered landslides on Monday that killed one of seven workers swept away in the house they were building, police said. The six others escaped or were found with minor injuries in Bergen, the main city on Norway's west coast. "We found a dead person in the house," Bergen Police spokesman Trygve Hillestad told The Associated Press. He said the whole house had been covered in the mudslide, and that rescuers needed a back-hoe to dig down to the victim.

The rains caused problems all over western Norway, stopping trains on the main rail line between the capital, Oslo, and Bergen, closing roads with floods and mudslides and briefly trapping three people in another house.

"A landslide hit a barn, and pushed it into a house. Two grandparents and their grandchild were trapped inside, but were rescued," said Hillestad. He said none were harmed.

Landslides also forced the evacuation of at least 13 other houses threatened by landslides.

"It was dramatic this morning when we woke up ... and it sounded like a waterfall outside," one of those evacuated, Bjoern Senderud, told state radio network NRK. "We are used to rain, but this was intense."

His said his house was hit by a car carried in a landslide.

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute said as much as 180 millimeters (seven inches) could fall in some areas during the storm, several times the normal amounts.

Police in the Sogn og Fjordane district, where as many as 30 roads were closed due to mud- and rock-slides, urged residents to stay indoors, according to the AP.

"We ask everyone who does not absolutely have to drive to avoid driving," said Einar Vereide, of the district police.

The rain was easing later Monday, but Hillestad said that doe not mean the danger has completely passed.

"There is an enormous amount of water in the mountains," he said.

T.E.