Flood in Venice washes away some qualms over Adriatic barrier project

Associated Press: …Monday's deluge — Venice's biggest in 22 years — has caused yet-uncalculated damage and scared away tourists who are the lifeblood of the city's economy. Francesca Bortolotto Possati, the Bauer's owner, said people around the world responded to the flood "like it was a tsunami."

While Venetians take floods in their stride, the swirling waters that burst the banks of the city's famed canals have convinced many here of the wisdom of a euro4.3 billion ($5.43 billion) project to build towering metal gates designed to protect Venice from being deluged. Moses, named after the Old Testament figure who parted the Red Sea, is nearly half finished and is expected to be operational by 2014 — two years behind schedule due to financial problems.

If the retractable gates had been working at the time of the 160 centimeter (60 inch) floods, they would have been raised from their resting place on the seafloor by 6 a.m. — "keeping the entire city dry," according to the consortium administrating Moses.

"Since the floods, people keep stopping me and asking me when the barriers will be completed. They say, 'Don't slow down, don't be late,'" Flavia Faccioli, spokeswoman for the New Venice consortium.

On Monday, with the tide forecast to reach 130 centimeters (51 inches), city officials issued a series of alarms at 6:30 a.m. that reached thousands of citizens via text message, telephone, fax and siren. New alarms came every time the forecast rose.

…St. Mark's Square floods when the tide reaches just 80 centimeters (31.5 inches). Because of the risk, city officials have ensured that Venice's artistic treasures are protected from floods up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) by keeping them above that level.

…With climate change, Venice could see an increase of these very high tides and their intensity, said Fabio Trincardi, a geologist who directs Italy's Institute of Marine Sciences.…"Once the sea starts off from an additional 50 centimeters, even a minor high tide increase becomes catastrophic," he said in a telephone interview.

Sunset at Saint Marks square in Venice, shot by http://www.laurayluis.com (I think), Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2