The (northern) Italian city of Venice relaunched this Tuesday its system of MOSE dams to protect against the arrival of a 173 cm high tide from the Adriatic Sea caused by the strong storm that hits all of Italy and which could have caused a historic flood.

“Mose is planting face the tide highest in the last 50 years. Without these barriers, Venice it would have crashed catastrophically. However, these barriers are saving humanity’s heritage,” said Vice President Matteo Salvini.

The current one “is worse than the high tide of three years ago”, when the city of Navigli suffered a historic flood caused by a 187-centimeter rise in the water level, explained Salvini, who also holds the government’s infrastructure portfolio. .

Rain, wind, waves and snow

This Tuesday a heavy storm full of rain, wind, waves and snow hit a large part of Italy and led the authorities to issue several warnings for the high risk of flooding and damage throughout the country.

Forecasts suggest that next Wednesday and Thursday will also produce significant tides in the lagoon of Venice, with a rise of up to 145 centimeters in the water level by mid-morning, as detailed by the Centro Tide of the City Council of the city.

The MOSE system, which Venice launched in October 2020, consists of a series of hydraulic dams that close the three inlets that connect the Venetian lagoon with the sea on days when the tides rise above 110 centimetres, thus preventing the arrival of water in the capital of the Veneto.

The purpose of these barriers is to protect the delicate city and its historic buildings from sea water and the corrosive effect of salt, which damages a precious heritage.

Dam works cost 5,500 million eurosmany more than expected, and have suffered long delays, extending for two decades, as well as corruption scandals.

The MOSE dams will remain active until 01:00 local time this Wednesday (21 Argentine time) and will be reactivated at 6:00 (3 Argentine time), when water is expected to start entering the Venetian lagoon again.

The city also inaugurated last Saturday a further system of barriers that protect the emblematic Basilica of San Marco from the arrival of high tide in cases where the MOSE system is not activated.

This complementary system, which consists in barriers 1.2 meters higha, which last week has already faced a small flood of 95 centimeters, managing to keep the inside of the temple dry while the nearby Piazza San Marco was flooded.

EFE extension