The shallowing of canals in Venice gives tourists unpleasant surprises once again: excursions are canceled, traffic is suspended as the sea suddenly left the city. Extreme low tides, which had already paralyzed the life of the city on the water a few years ago, were repeated again. So the legendary city of Italy is threatened not only by floods.
N.B. Also read about a similar problem in Turkey's resorts, albeit caused by different reasons, in the article “At a popular resort in Turkey, the sea mysteriously went 50 meters away, shocking tourists.”
Canals in Venice in recent days almost dried up due to strong low tides and an extreme drop in the water level – it is fixed at half a meter from normal. This interferes with the operation of water taxis, gondolas and urban emergency services using boats, Bloomberg reported.
Recall that this phenomenon was already observed in Venice – in mid-January 2020. After the November floods, when the highest water level in Venice over the past 50 years was recorded in Venice, the strongest low tides in recent years came, which led to the fact that part of the canals of Venice just dried up. The city was saved only by a declining number of tourists – then fear of a pandemic was already spreading. Read the details at this link. At the beginning of March 2021, the situation repeated itself. And in February 2023, in some canals of Venice, the “bottom is visible” again.
Perhaps the extreme low tides will soon become more of a deterrent to tourists than the aqua alta, the famous Venetian floods – when it is impossible to walk in St. Mark's Square almost to the waist without wading boots. By the way, they are cheerfully offered to tourists by local merchants. The last time Venice experienced such an extreme event was in November 2019, when the water level in Venice rose to 125 cm (read here). The next risk of “high water” is promised around April due to floods.
Flooding is facilitated by floods of the Po River, as well as wind surge from the sea. To protect against the latter, Venice even undertook the MOSE project, an experimental dam designed to protect against floods. The system consists of rows of mobile locks to isolate the Venetian Lagoon from the Adriatic Sea when the tide exceeds the normal level (110 cm) and can reach 3 meters. The project is still ongoing, meanwhile, low water levels are also becoming a problem…
For those who care about a healthy lifestyle, we recommend reading: “A nutritionist named 6 amazing reasons why people can not lose weight '.
