Venice is dealing with flood damage once again after government authorities failed to implement the city’s new $8 billion barrier system.
Tuesday’s tide hit 138 centimeters (54 inches) above the city’s average, leaving portions of it thigh-deep in water.
A new flood barrier system called MOSE is supposed to be activated by government authorities when the tide is predicted to reach 130 centimeters above average, but as the forecast only predicted 125 centimeters above average, it was not activated. By the time it became clear the forecast was wrong, it was too late.
Until December of next year, MOSE is considered to be in a trial phase. Until that phase is over, the damming system is under the jurisdiction of the Italian government, which has decided on the 130 centimeters above average forecast guideline. Each time it wants the barrier system activated, the city must request that the national government do so. Local authorities have determined that when they get control of the system, they will activate the barrier when the forecast is at least 110 centimeters above average.
The barrier has been successfully activated five times in the two months since it was introduced.
Claudio Vernier, owner of the Al Todaro bar and gelateria and president of the Associazione Piazza San Marco, told CNN that Tuesday’s flooding was a “dramatic and unexpected event, and one which we thought we had put behind us.”
He added, “It’s decided on the basis of a weather forecast, and no weather forecast is perfect. Five centimeters (2 inches) can make a huge difference and cause enormous damage — and that’s what we saw yesterday.”
One of the buildings that sustained damage was the Byzantine St. Mark’s Basilica, which dates back to the 11th century. Carlo Alberto Tessarin, who CNN reported is a member of the board that oversees the church, told a local news outlet that the building “cannot take any more of this continual flooding.”
Sebastian Fagarazzi, co-founder of Venezia Autentica, a group working to transform the impact of tourism, told CNN in regard to the MOSE system, “I trust it 100%, but it won’t stop climate change nor solve all the problems of Venice.”
A particularly devastating flood last year in the city reached 187 centimeters (74 inches) above average.
“We hoped it would never happen again, but since the [MOSE] isn’t finalized yet, we knew that it could happen. Venetians have to hope for the best but prepare for the worst,” Fagarazzi said.
The MOSE project began in 2003 and cost about 7 billion euros ($8 billion), according to Agence France-Presse.
