In Venice, ambulance boats normally come when people need urgent medical attention. The stores receive goods delivered by boat via the city’s 177 canals. And the tourists are transported around in the famous gondolas. Now the situation is completely different. On Monday afternoon, the water level in the canals was 70 centimeters below normal, writes La Repubblica. In many places there is only mud at the bottom of the canals. Elsewhere there is a small stream. Only a small stream of water is left in this canal in Venice Photo: MANUEL SILVESTRI / Reuters The city stops at 60 centimeters below normal is considered the critical point, writes The Independent. With less water than that, the city grinds to a halt. Now the emergency services sound the alarm because the ambulance boats are not arriving. – Our operators often have to stop their boats some distance from where they are going and continue on foot. In many cases, they have to carry patients in their arms, says the head of Venice’s emergency services, Paolo Rosi, to local media. Boats are stored in the canals of Venice Photo: MANUEL SILVESTRI / Reuters Boats are stored in the canals of Venice Photo: MANUEL SILVESTRI / Reuters Prolonged drought The empty canals are due to a combination of several factors. The tides, high pressure and ocean currents all play a role, writes Reuters. At the same time, northern Italy is in its second prolonged drought in a year. The Po River, which crosses northern Italy before emptying at Venice, was among the hardest hit areas in last year’s drought in Europe. It almost emptied the Po River of water and was described by the EU as the worst drought in Europe in 500 years. The Po River, the lifeblood of northern Italy, was in some places almost completely dry in the summer of 2022. Photo: Luca Bruno / AP Needs 50 days of rain Now northern Italy is once again hit by drought. The Alps have received less than half of the snow in a normal year. The water level in Lake Garda is at a record low and the water flow in the Po River is 61 percent lower than normal for the time of year, writes Reuters. – We need 50 consecutive days of rain. Not to return to normal, but only to return to last year’s level, climate scientist Massimiliano Pasqui told Corriere della Sera. Tourists wade in the flooded St. Mark’s Square in Venice on December 10, 2022. Photo: ANDREA PATTARO / AFP Problems with flooding In recent years, Venice has been concerned about too much, and not too little, water. The city is built on clay soil that is slowly pressed together. At the same time, groundwater has been pumped up. The result is that the city is sinking by 1 to 2 millimeters a year. At the latest before Christmas, the water level was 170 centimeters above normal and was saved by a system of 78 yellow floodgates which are placed at the three entrances to the city’s lagoon. According to the BBC, the city is in danger of being completely underwater by the year 2100. That is the long-term perspective, but now residents and tourists in one of the world’s most beautiful cities face the opposite problem.
ttn-69
The canals in Venice almost empty of water – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
