High tides flooded St. Mark’s Square in Venice on Tuesday, propelled by winds that were stronger than predicted, and an experimental system of inflatable barriers wasn’t activated to prevent water from invading the lagoon city.
The system, while still in an experimental phase, gets activated when high tides are predicted to reach at least 1.3 meters (4 feet, 4 inches). Tuesday’s tide was predicted to reach 1.25 meters. Instead, it kept rising, to a height of 1.38 meters, in late afternoon.
Some shops were flooded, and Venetians waded in water as they scrambled to set out raised walkways. Damage to shops and other business was destined to compound the suffering already sharply felt in Venice’s economy by tourism largely washed away by the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, the weather is freer than us. It does what it wants,” Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said ruefully, referring to the stronger-than-expected winds that whipped across the Adriatic from Croatia’s coastline.
In July, Venice successfully carried out a trial run of the ambitious anti-flood system, which consists of 78 barriers that can be inflated when needed to rise from the sea like a kind of dike-on-demand. The system is dubbed Moses after the Biblical figure, who, in the Old Testament account, parted the waters of the Red Sea.
Just over a year ago, Venice experienced its worst flooding in more than 50 years when the water reached 1.87 meters (6 ½ feet) in the city.
The new moveable barrier system is designed to protect the city from tides as high as three meters (10 feet).
A tide of 1.20 meters (four feet) was predicted for Wednesday, and workers were arriving to prepare to activate the barrier system hours before then, the mayor said.
“We’re working to activate Moses tonight in view of the peak prediction for tomorrow (Wednesday),” Brugnaro said. The barriers would likely be activated shortly after midnight, he said.
Noting that the system was still in the experimental stage, the mayor said “more rapid protocols” to activate it were needed, in view of Tuesday’s flooding.
Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for altering an email that the Justice Department relied on during its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Friday at rival Republicans who tried to repeal his statewide mask mandate, saying killing the order would be a ridiculous move comparable to abolishing speed limits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As some conservatives in South Carolina celebrated getting a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state past a legislative barrier and likely becoming law, they said they are not finished trying to end all abortions.
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe.