by InTrieste
The flood barrier system in Venice had its first real “stress test” on Tuesday when all 78 of the Mose dams were raised to save the Italian city from flooding.
With sea waters reaching more than 1.7 metres above the normal level, an estimated 82 per cent of the canal city’s footpaths would have been under water without the protective floodgates.
On Tuesday morning the 78 yellow sluice gates swung into operation, rising above the water to seal off the lagoon’s three inlets at Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia.
It was the third highest water level since records began in 1923, according to Italian news reports, after the devastating “acque alte” of 4 November 1966 (1.94m) and 12 November 2019 (1.87m).
The wave height in the sea on Tuesday was calculated at around 3 metres while the borawind in the lagoon reached almost 53 km per hour.
There was success too for the newly-inaugurated glass barrier around the façade of St Mark’s Basilica to protect the 11th-century Venetian landmark whose marble floors and mosaics suffered extensive damage in the 2019 floods after being swamped by corrosive salt water and sewage.
The multi-billion-euro Mose scheme, operated for the first time in October 2020, is designed to protect Venice from tides of up to three metres.
First planned in 1984, the project was plagued by corruption scandals and multiple cost overruns since work began in 2003.
