After the state’s flood barrier system was not triggered, as a result of mistaken predictions, Venice was struck by high tides of up to 1.5 meters (5ft).
Weather bulletins had forecast a high tide, or acqua alta, rising to 1.2 meters, lower than the level of 1.3 meters at which the protective system’s 78 mobile barriers, or Mose, would normally be triggered.
It was too late for the device to take effect by the time the water had flooded the lagoon on Tuesday morning, totally flooding the narthex of St Mark’s Basilica.
At around 16.40 local time, tides were forecast to exceed 1.45 meters, while residents estimate the water level to be as high as 1.5 meters.
“As we were not expecting it the situation is really bad,” said Matteo Secchi, who heads the Venessia.com activist party. It’s frustrating because we thought this kind of thing wouldn’t happen anymore with Mose, but we’re back to square one instead. It is the same ancient issue.
Carlo Alberto Tesserin, the procurator-in-chief of the Basilica of St Mark, told the Italian media: “The situation is awful, we are dramatically underwater.”He said the narthex of the 1,000-year-old cathedral was completely submerged and the internal chapels will also go under” if the water rises any higher.
Secchi said bars, restaurants, and shops were affected, but it is not yet known the extent of the damage.
The long-awaited Mose system, first fully tested in July, was lauded for saving Venice from the recent high tides. At the beginning of October, during its first real-time test, Mose’s enormous yellow floodgates, rising to separate the Venetian lagoon from the sea, succeeded in shielding the city when the high tide rose to 1.2 meters.
A few weeks later, the machine again worked successfully to prevent water of up to 1.35 meters from entering the lagoon. The Mose dams were built in 1984 and were expected to come into operation in 2011, but a corruption scandal and cost overruns blighted development.
After the city suffered its worst flood since 1966 in November last year the Italian government came under pressure to finally finish the EUR 6bn (£ 5.4bn) project planned to shield Venice from tides of up to three meters.
The flood killed two people and caused damage to monuments, businesses, and homes worth an estimated EUR 1bn.
Despite the flood, people seem to not be bothered by it.
Source: The Guardian