Bad weather and a record tide are putting Venice to the test, where high water invaded the city on Tuesday evening and grazed 2 meters (184 centimeters), reaching an exceptional level not seen since 1966, when it reached 194 centimeters. The high water emergency continued on Wednesday too, when 150 centimeters were reached in the morning.
"It is a disaster”, commented the mayor Luigi Brugnano, which has launched an appeal to the Government to finally complete it as soon as possible the Moses, the system of mobile dams that should regulate the waters. The corruption scandal that broke out in 2014 stopped everything for five years. "According to the contract, we will deliver the work on 31 December 2021. As for the systems already in place, we are not talking about deterioration, but certainly the first bulkheads that were put up in 2014 need maintenance", he informed HuffPost the Consorzio Venezia Nuova, which deals with the construction of the work.
The mayor has also announced that he will ask for a state of calamity. “Damage estimates are very large. We are talking about hundreds of millions of euros. This is not just a question of quantifying the damage, but of the very future of the city. Because the depopulation of Venice also stems from this".
There are two victims: on the island of Pellestrina an elderly man died due to a short circuit caused by water entering the house, while another inhabitant of the island was also found dead at home, probably of natural causes.
“We will reunite the big committee, we must not make fun of the citizens by saying that we will complete the Mose next year. Mose will likely be completed in the spring of 2021”. This was stated by the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, after a series of inspections in the city, the last of which at Palazzo Ducale. A Cabinet meeting is scheduled for Thursday to declare a state of emergency.
Particularly damaged the Basilica of San Marco, which is the lowest place in Venice. The brackish water that has entered the Basilica risks corroding the mosaics that tourists have admired for centuries. As long as the high water reaches 90 centimeters, everything is flooded. The crypt under the presbytery was completely invaded by water.
“We were a breath away from the Apocalypse, a hair's breadth from disaster,” the prosecutor of the Basilica of San Marco, Pierpaolo Campostrini, told ANSA. “The water entered the basilica, flooded the floor and breaking the windows entered the crypt, flooding it. The thing is dangerous because the water could have given static problems to the columns, which support the basilica".
But it is not only San Marco that is worrying: Venice, a UNESCO heritage site, has also been injured in many other points of its cultural heritage. There was an initial fire at the Ca' Pesaro modern art gallery (extinguished by firefighters); roof inspections are required Ducal Palace and it flooded the La Fenice theater, where the electricity was cut off to avoid a short circuit (the inauguration of the opera season with Verdi's Don Carlo is expected on 24 November, but rehearsals are suspended). The water has also flooded a dozen churches between the historic center and the islands (including Sant'Alvise, San Girolamo, Santa Sofia and San Marcuola, San Simeon Grande, San Moisè, San Cassiano and Santa Maria Mater Domini) and even damaged the books of the Querini Stampalia Foundation. Other museums, such as Ca' Rezzonico or the House of Goldoni, will be closed until Saturday.
It is not the first time that the emergency of high water has overwhelmed Venice but so far there have been many words and few actions to secure a world heritage site. And today the bad weather threatens to give no respite.
While the Government announces a moratorium for families and businesses, private individuals are also involved.
Intesa Sanpaolo has allocated a ceiling of 100 million euros to support families and businesses that have suffered damage following the exceptional bad weather. The bank has also provided for the possibility of requesting a 12-month suspension of existing loan installments for households and businesses residing in areas affected by bad weather and has made all its branches available in the area to promptly provide information and assistance.
Unicredit has launched various support measures in favor of the affected communities: a 12-month moratorium on mortgage and unsecured loan installments for companies with registered/operating offices in the area affected by the bad weather that have suffered damage, a "Support Loan" with a subsidized rate for private customers residing in Municipalities who have suffered damage due to bad weather; and the “New business credit package”, with a line of unsecured/mortgage loans at favorable conditions in favor of business customers with registered/operating offices in the Municipalities affected by the event.
(Last update: 08.00 am on 14 November).
