November 14, 2019

Andrew Campbell 

Venice, the historic Italian lagoon city, was built on more than 100 small islands in a shallow lagoon near the Adriatic Sea. Venice and its monuments have shown signs of gradually sinking, a phenomenon exacerbated by rising sea levels resulting from climate change. Rains and high tides up to 187 centimeters (73.6 inches) on November 12 have flooded the central square, Piazza San Marco, including St. Mark’s Basilica tiled with Byzantine mosaics and other architectures aligned with Renaissance and Gothic palaces.

According to official statistics, the latest flooding, Venice's 2nd-worst flooding on record, is the highest floodwater recorded in the city since an unprecedented catastrophic flood in 1966. The Mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnaro has already tweeted that the flooding has put the city on its knees and under a state of emergency.

It is reported 45% of the city was flooded, but the weather forecast for the following days expected more rains and strong winds to come. The whole world is observing the ongoing crisis in Venice’s floodwater situation which seems very much desperate and dreadful.

Photo:Webshot.