Venice whacked by third exceptional tide
Mayor has put flooding damage at hundreds of millions of euros
VENICE, ITALY — Venice was hit Sunday by a record third exceptional tide in the same week while other parts of Italy struggled with a series of weather woes, from rainswollen rivers to high winds to an out-of-season avalanche.
Stores and museums in Venice were mostly closed in the hardest-hit area around St. Mark’s Square, but tourists donned high rubber boots or even hip waders to witness and photograph the spectacle. Most were disappointed when officials closed down the historic square as winds rippled across the rising waters. The doors of the famed St. Mark’s Basilica were securely shut to the public, as authorities took precautions — stacking sandbags in canalside windows — to prevent salt-laden water from entering the crypt again.
Venice’s Tide Office said the peak tide of 1.5 metres hit just after 1 p.m. but a weather front off the coast blocked southerly winds from the Adriatic Sea from pushing the tide to the predicted level of 1.6 metres.
Still, it marked the third time since Tuesday night’s 1.87-metre flood — the worst in 53 years — that water levels in Venice had topped 1.5 metres.
Since records began in 1872, that level had never been reached even twice in one year, let alone three times in one week.
While Venetians had a bit of relief, days of heavy rainfall and snowfall elsewhere in Italy swelled rivers to worrisome levels, triggered an avalanche in the Alps and saw dramatic rescues of people in countryside who couldn’t flee rising waters.
In Venice, many store owners in the swanky area around St. Mark’s completely emptied their shops, while others put their wares as high as possible and counted on automatic pumping systems to keep the water at bay. In one luxury boutique, employees used water vacuums and big squeegee mops to keep the brackish lagoon waters from advancing.
Venice’s mayor has put the flooding damage at hundreds of millions of euros and Italian officials have declared a state of emergency for the area. They say Venice is both sinking into the mud and facing rising sea levels due to climate change.
Luca D’Acunto and his girlfriend, Giovanna Maglietta, surveyed the rising water from a bridge, wondering how to make their way to their nearby hotel in their colourful yet inadequate rubber boots.
“We made the reservation last week before the floods and had paid already, so we came,” said D’Acunto, a 28year-old from Naples. “Instead of a romantic trip, we’ll have an adventurous one.”
Most museums were closed as a precaution, but the Correr Museum, which overlooks St. Mark’s Square and explores the art and history of Venice, remained open. Tourists enjoyed a Venetian Spritz — a colourful aperitif with an
Italian bitter and Prosecco — as the waters rose.
Officials said 280 civil protection volunteers were deployed to assist as needed. Young Venetian volunteers in rubber boots have also showed up at key sites, including the city’s Music Conservatory, to help save precious manuscripts from the invading salt water.
The flooding has raised renewed debates about the city’s Moses flood defence project, a corruption-riddled underwater barrier system that is still not operational after more than 16 years of construction and at least five billion euros of public funding. It was supposed to be working by 2011.
Floods were also hitting other parts of Italy on Sunday.
In Pisa, workers sandbagged the road along the rising Arno River and the mayor ordered shops to close early, before the river risked overflowing its banks.
The Arno also surged through the heart of historic Florence, reaching a level near the Uffizi Galleries that was described as the highest in some 20 years. In 24 hours, 62 millimetres of rain had fallen in Florence, which was whipped by winds as high as 76 km/h.
A popular Florence tourist attraction, the Boboli Gardens, was closed as a precaution for fear of falling trees. Near the Tuscan town of Cecina, 500 people were told to leave when a local river swelled to the top of its banks.