On Wednesday, a landslide from the mountain side of Birch Glacier -- located in the Lötschental valley in northern Switzerland -- flattened homes in the Alpine town of Blatten after a large chunk of the glacier broke off, Bethan Davies, a professor of glaciology at Newcastle University in the U.K., told ABC News.

At least one person was missing after a landslide wiped out 90 percent of Blatten, which was home to roughly 300 residents who were evacuated on May 19.