Venice 'high water' floods 70% of city.

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Tourists attached plastic bags to their legs or stripped off to take a dip in St Mark's Square in Venice on Sunday as rising sea waters surged through the lagoon city. High water measuring 1.49 metres (5ft) above the normal level of the Adriatic sea came with bad weather that swept Italy at the weekend, causing floods in historic cities including Vicenza as well in the region of Tuscany 250 miles further south.

Venice's high water, or "acqua alta", said to be the sixth highest since 1872, flooded 70% of the city and was high enough to make raised wooden platforms for pedestrians float away. The record high water in Venice - 1.94 metres in 1966 - prompted many residents to abandon the city for new lives on the mainland.

Venetians bombarded Facebook with moans about the city's weather forecasters, who had predicted just 1.2 metres of water on Saturday, before correcting their forecast at dawn on Sunday.

"How come the people from the council who put out the wooden platforms were predicting 150cm?" asked Matelda Bottoni, who manages a jewellery design shop off St Mark's Square, which floods when water reaches 105cm. "Many residents and shopkeepers had gone to the mountains for the day and did not have time to rush back."

Look at how relaxed these people are...Embracing nature rather than fighting it.



It is quite strange that this is happening and I have heard nothing about it to this point.70% of the city is flooded? Wow!

Anyways I thought I would bring this to everyone here as it is a big story that seems to get no coverage in our media.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

I always wanted to visit there though. So when I go it will be a ghost town by then??? rats

reply to post by predator0187


I saw that this morning on Yahoo, and was also surprised that it was not getting more mention anywhere, including here on ATS.

Anywho, here is a link for more photos'
www.time.com...

S&F

Peace

The canals of Venice stink to high heaven at the best of times.

I can't imagine the ocean water coming into St Mark's Square was all that clean, I don't think you could have paid me to swim in it.

A bit like swimming in the East River, New York City.

Originally posted by predator0187
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Now wait.
Is this what was left.



After this.



Rub a dub dub. That's a cool pic.

Originally posted by predator0187
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[Look at how relaxed these people are...Embracing nature rather than fighting it.

Ughhhhh! You would not get me in that cesspool! While the city is beautiful, that water is freaking nasty!

The lagoon is an almost closed body of water, with only three narrow openings towards the Adriatic Sea. Sewage and other kinds of pollution used to be a major problem in the lagoon. It is still a problem, but things have improved immensely in the last decades.

www.youtube.com...

Garbage is a problem in Venice like it is in every other major city, only in Venice it is so much harder collecting it. It is rather difficult to sweep a canal. As a result, there are often garbage in the canals, but don’t complain, pick it up. After all, that’s why kayaks in Venice has bungee cords on the deck.

It is quite strange that this is happening and I have heard nothing about it to this point.70% of the city is flooded? Wow!

Anyways I thought I would bring this to everyone here as it is a big story that seems to get no coverage in our media.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

Also, these floods are common according to this:

www.comune.venezia.it... na/22795

Exceptional tides (when the water-line is equal to or more than 140 centimetres on the mareographic zero of "Punta della Salute", located near the Salute Church, in front of St. Mark's Square) statistically occur once every 4 years. They are caused by a combination of various factors, such as the astronomical tide, low pressure on the Tyrrhenian Sea, strong south wind (scirocco) and the Adriatic seiche. Further two larger phenomena also contribute to increase the water level: eustasy (see glossary below) and the subsidence of the Venetian Lagoon, which, together, have caused an altimetric loss of about 26 centimetres in the last century.

You would think that people living there, surrounded by water would be used to this by now, and be more prepared!

That's what you get if you build a city on top of a swamp.

Isn't that water generally pretty nasty? Correct me if I'm wrong.


Are these types of floods (in highly populated areas, near water) the type you hear about in the bible or other texts that describe mass flooding? Think back thousands of years, something like this would decimate a city or village.


Obviously, it isn't flash flood style as depicted...but story tellers do love to exaggerate the truth a bit.

Raw: Tourists Battle High Flood Waters in Venice

Terrible flooding Venice and Tuscany.

Be safe everyone.