Acqua Alta in Venice

November 12, 2012 11:52 PM

Venice resident, Erla Zwingle documents the city's recent (near record breaking) "Acqua Alta". The high tide left about 2/3 of the city under water. Venice's new flood protection system is due to come online in 2014.
posted by rongorongo (14 comments total)

⅔ of area, not height. (For some reason, I read it wrong at first.)
posted by jiawen at 12:06 AM on November 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm fairly impressed by this lady. Flood, eh, whatever, I want my latte.
posted by Jilder at 12:15 AM on November 13, 2012

How the Venice sewer system works.
posted by KokuRyu at 2:30 AM on November 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

I love Venice. I was fortunate to have fabulous conditions when I visited. I hope they can win their battle against the sea, and continue to attract crowds to see their wonderful city.
posted by Goofyy at 3:00 AM on November 13, 2012

The Atlantic also has some great pictures.
(But no one should be swimming in that).
posted by FreezBoy at 3:02 AM on November 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

Venice is one of the most amazing and astonishingly beautiful cities on earth. I cherish the memory of the time I spent there.

Here's a song I wrote about it, and posted to MeFi Music back in 2008. In the last verse we find that it is, yes, sinking.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:44 AM on November 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

My wife and I experienced some acqua alta when we were in Venice in 2010, but it wasn't quite like this--115cm at its maximum, I think. While on the one hand it's a terrible and obvious sign of the peril the city itself is in, it's also really, really cool to experience.

(But no one should be swimming in that).

Ugh, yeah, sitting in that water seems like a wonderful way to learn all about necrotizing fasciitis.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:46 AM on November 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Well, at least the Renaissance 1% can't be blamed for this!

More seriously, great photos.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:13 AM on November 13, 2012

It actually looks as though you could raise the ground floor by about a metre and be OK. Obviously for St Mark's that's a bit of a challenge.
posted by Segundus at 5:17 AM on November 13, 2012

The Atlantic also has some great pictures.

Seriously. One of the good things about the end of the world is that we're gonna get some sweet pictures.
posted by mrgrimm at 7:29 AM on November 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Flood, eh, whatever, I want my latte
No latte there, either espresso, capuccino, macchiato, espresso corretto.

At least it was the Sirocco instead of the Bora. While the Sirocco wind brings acqua alta to Venice, the Bora brings a bone chilling, wet misery.
posted by francesca too at 8:03 AM on November 13, 2012

I'm surprised the water is warm enough to swim in November.
posted by smackfu at 3:48 PM on November 13, 2012

That blog is lovely, thanks for posting this.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:44 PM on November 13, 2012

Venice drowning! Venice drowning! Venice drowning!
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:08 AM on November 15, 2012