Venice under water: Renaissance city flooded as complex dam system fails to activate amid high tide
The dam system which is still in an experimental phase, gets activated when high tides are predicted to reach at least 1.3 meters (4 feet, 4 inches), but the tide predicted on December 8 was 1.25 meters. Instead, the height kept increasing and till late afternoon it was 1.38 meters
The St. Mark's Square in Venice was flooded on December 8 after high tides propelled by winds that were strong than predicted, and an experimental newly installed system of inflatable barriers wasn’t activated to prevent water from invading the lagoon city. A flooded St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, December 8, 2020. (Image: AP)
The system which is still in an experimental phase, gets activated when high tides are predicted to reach at least 1.3 meters (4 feet, 4 inches), but the tide predicted on December 8 was 1.25 meters. Instead, the height kept increasing and till late afternoon it was 1.38 meters. (Image: AP)
With tourism in Venice already affected by COVID-19 pandemic, damage to shops and other business were now affected by the floods. Some shops were flooded, and Venetians waded in water as they scrambled to set out raised walkways. (Image: AP)
Venice successfully carried out a trial run of the ambitious anti-flood system in July. It consists of 78 barriers that can be inflated when needed to protect from high tides. The new moveable barrier system is designed to protect from tides as high as three meters i.e. 10 feet. The system is named Moses after a Biblical figure, who, in the Old Testament account, parted the waters of the Red Sea. A man wades through water following a high tide, in Venice, Italy, Tuesday on December 8, 2020. (Image: AP)
The area around Rialto bridge is flooded following a high tide, in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, on December 8, 2020. (Image: AP)
The Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said that a tide of 1.20 meters (four feet) is predicted for December 9, and workers are set to activate the barrier system hours before then. In view of the December 8 flooding, he said that as the system was in the experimental stage more rapid protocols to activate it were needed. (Image: AP)
In 2019, Venice experienced its worst flooding in more than 50 years when the water reached 1.87 meters i.e. 6 ½ feet in the city. (Image: AP)
A girl is carried shoulders high in flooded St. Mark's Square following a high tide, in Venice, Italy, Tuesday on December 8, 2020. (Image: AP)
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