In autumn and winter, Venice is regularly hit by severe storms. The rising levels of the salt water are a problem, especially for mosaics and frescoes in historical buildings. In the morning, the lagoon city therefore activates “Moses”.
The northern Italian lagoon city of Venice has extended its flood protection gates due to severe flooding. The level has reached a level of about 170 centimeters above the normal level, as the municipality announced in the morning. The highest warning level applies.
According to the information, without the flood protection, around 80 percent of the pedestrian paths in the city, which is popular with tourists, would be flooded at this value. According to the municipality, such a level would also mean that people on the famous St. Mark’s Square would be almost waist-deep in water. On Tuesday, live images showed footbridges and people walking across the rainy square, but it wasn’t under water.
The city deployed the mechanism, abbreviated to “Moses”, in the early hours of the morning. The system consists of 78 yellow flaps installed at three entrances to the lagoon. Venice increases the flood protection especially in autumn, when rain and storms cause the water levels to rise. The multi-billion dollar structure has been in operation since 2020. Since then major floods have been avoided. However, “Mose” has not had to fend off such a high tide as on Tuesday since it was commissioned.
The salt water of the sea is a particular problem for the Unesco World Heritage city. It particularly endangers mosaics and frescoes in historical buildings such as churches.
The last time there was a major flood was around 2019, when on the night of November 12th to 13th a water level of 187 centimeters above normal was measured. The historic flood of the century in Venice dates back to 1966, when the water swelled to 194 centimeters. In other parts of Italy, schools were also canceled due to storms and heavy rain on Tuesday, such as in the coastal community of Ostia near Rome or in Sardinia. The civil defense reported locally fallen trees and flooding.