In pictures - Venice is flooded again

Weather of Arabia - Venice managed for the first time, after suffering from centuries of floods, to prevent sea water from submerging the city last October, thanks to the activation of the flood barriers system known as ( MOSE ), which successfully performed its work in keeping the historical center dry for the first time. In the history of the city, this means that the devastating floods that swept the city in 2019 AD, and the flood waters reached 187 centimeters above average, and caused damage exceeding one billion dollars that will not be repeated, and the flood barriers system has been successfully activated several times during the past two months, which is the period in which the season begins The traditional floods in the city, but last Tuesday, the barriers were not raised, and parts of the city were flooded again, but what is the reason ?!

Acqua Alta , which means high water, is a term used to describe the phenomena of exceptional tides that occur periodically in the north of the Adriatic Sea from autumn until early spring, as the water reaches its maximum height in the Venetian lagoon in that period. It causes partial floods in Venice and elsewhere, and the water often submerges the lower parts of the city, especially San Marco Square, in which the water overflows when the tide reaches a height of only 90 cm, and last Tuesday's floods exposed this square to a severe blow in particular .

This flood was a dramatic event because it was not expected, after the city’s residents believed that their suffering with the floods had ended with the presence of the system of barriers, but it was not used this time, so the flood caused economic and moral damage, especially important historical buildings, which were damaged by the salty water that causes erosion. Interior walls.

Why was the barrier system not activated this time?

The system of barriers is still in the testing phase, and it will only be activated automatically when the tide is expected to break 130 cm above average, at which time nearly half of the gun is underwater, but the tide level on Tuesday reached 138 cm above average, meaning that it is higher From the level at which the barriers should operate, except that the weather forecast predicted a span of 125 cm, so the system was not activated.

As the weather worsened, the city authorities sent alerts to residents warning them to prepare for the floods, and because lifting the barriers takes several hours, it was too late to take action by the time it became clear how high the tide was, and the authorities received criticism for not taking the necessary precautions to raise the checkpoints, to connect them. The decision to activate the barriers is based on weather forecasts only, and it is known that there are no ideal weather forecasts, especially with climate change, as with the exacerbation of the problem of climate change, the level of the tide increased, and this type of tide will be repeated dozens of times during the year.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/venice-flood-basilica-mose/index....