On Sunday evening, the 15th of January 1905, some time between 11p.m and midnight, two loud bangs were heard from Ramnefjellet. A piece of rock came loose approximately 500 meters up the mountainside andswept along the scree below. When all this stone slid into the lake a hugefloodwave was formed. The headland Nesodden clove it in two, with one part flowing outwards to Bødal and the other inwards to Nesdal. In YtreNesdal all the houses were swept into the lake. Here there were three
farms and two crofters’ steads, with 34 people altogether. All died.In Bødal all the houses down by the lakeshore were crushed against eachother, save for two barns and some small byres. As the wave retreated, it gathered along everything that had been broken loose. People and animalsdied from houses collapsing over them, or by drowning when they were dragged into the lake. Only the houses at Gjerstun and Raudi wereundamaged, as they were approximately 200 meters further up from the water.