Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
High-water threat keeps Venice on edge
VENICE, Italy — Tourists and residents were allowed back into St. Mark’s Square in Venice on Saturday, a day after it was closed by exceptionally high tidal waters that swept through most of the lagoon city’s already devastated center.
Despite sunny skies, the city remained on edge over the possibility that more wind-propelled high tidal waters might roll in during the weekend. The city was struck Tuesday by the worst flood in decades.
Water rose again Saturday in St. Mark’s Square and the forecast for today was worse. The tide peaked at 3½ feet above sea level Saturday, leaving St. Mark’s inundated with more than 8 inches of water.
Late Tuesday, water levels in Venice reached 6 feet above sea level, the highest flooding since 1966. The forecast for today was for the high-water mark to reach 5 feet above sea level.
On Saturday, tourists sloshed through St. Mark’s Square and strolled across it on raised walkways. Many snapped photos of themselves standing in shallow water in front of St. Mark’s Square to document their presence during this exceptional high-water season. Museums filled up again with tourists and the city’s gondolas were back in business. But the city’s museums were expected to shut down today in face of the threat of high water.
Luigi Brugnaro, the city’s mayor, estimated losses from the flooding would reach at least $1.1 billion. He said a final tally of the damage to homes, businesses, stores and the city’s rich cultural heritage would be done once the city dries out, according to Italian media outlets.
“Venice is once again being watched by the world and it needs to show that it can succeed and pick itself back up,” the mayor said in an interview with the Gazzettino and Messaggero newspapers.
On Thursday, the government declared a state of emergency, approving $22.1 million to help Venice repair the most urgent damage.
Brugnaro said Venice was setting up programs to help cover losses for individuals and businesses, noting that families could expect up to $5,500 and businesses up to $22,000 in aid. He said businesses and individuals suffering even more serious losses could possibly qualify for aid covering up to 70% of losses.
As soon as waters receded, about 50 young Venetians wearing rubber boots and gripped by a sense of determination showed up at the Music Conservatory to help save precious manuscripts.
Thanks to their work, some 160 linear feet of archival manuscripts, dating from as far back as the 1500s, lay strewn in the conservatory’s upper floors to dry when Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini visited this weekend.
“This is our city,” said Laura Franco, a student at Venice’s Music Conservatory who showed up with several friends Saturday morning.
A growing network of more than 2,000 young Venetians are responding to the worst flood in their lifetimes to help salvage what they can, wherever help is needed.
Modeling their network after the “Mud Angels” who famously poured into Florence from all over the world after the 1966 flood swamped that city’s treasures with mud from the Arno, these young people are calling themselves “Angels of the Salt,” for the corrosive, destructive saline content of the lagoon water.
Built on a series of tiny islets in a system of canals, Venice is particularly vulnerable to a combination of rising sea levels resulting from climate change coupled with the city’s well-documented sinking into the mud. The sea level in Venice is 4 inches higher than it was 50 years ago, according to the city’s tide office.
The flooding has left Italians exasperated at the failure to complete the city’s long-delayed Moses flood defense project. The project is composed of moveable barriers in the lagoon that can be raised when high winds and high tides combine to threaten to send “acqua alta” rushing across the city.
Completion of the multibillion-dollar project, under construction since 2003, has been delayed by corruption scandals, cost overruns and opposition from environmentalists worried about its effects on Venice’s delicate lagoon ecosystem.