The year 1999- was special not only for the occurrence of snow avalanches, storms and floods but also because 350 landslides and debris flows were registered in Switzerland. The Prealps, the Molasse Basin as well as the Jura Chain were severly affected after the heavy rainfalls of February and May 1999. The direct losses induced by landslides reached 100 million swiss francs and two people get killed by debris-flows. 1889, 1910 and 1951 are landslides-rich years with similarities in the meteorological conditions but 1999 will remain as the year of landslides of the last century. The combination of heavy rainfalls during snowmelts after a strong winter can be inferred as triggering factors to the extended distribution of landslides and debris flows in Switzerland.