(17 Nov 2019) Venetians coped with another exceptional tide in a season that is setting records while other parts of Italy wrestled with a cornucopia of weather woes Sunday, from rain-swollen rivers to high winds to an out-of-season avalanche. Venice city officials shut down St. Mark's Square, removing elevated walkways and turning back curious onlookers. Tourists with scheduled departures rushed to grab the last water taxis to get to the mainland before the service was interrupted by the high tide.
Officials had forecast a 1.6-metre (5 foot, 2 inch) surge of water Sunday through the lagoon city. That fearful prediction came after Tuesday's 1.87-metre flood, the worst in 53 years, followed by high tide of 1.54 metres on Friday.
But bringing Venice a breath of relief, the water on Sunday peaked at 1.5 metres (nearly 5 feet) in the early afternoon.
Still, it was the first time since records began in 1872 that three high tides had hit at least 1.5 metres in the same year - let alone the same week.
Venice's mayor has put the flooding damage at hundreds of millions of euros and Italian officials have declared a state of emergency for the area.
But tourists continued to arrive, despite the prospects of another day of surging water.
The flooding has raised renewed debates about the city’s Moses flood defence project, a corruption-riddled underwater barrier system that is still not operational after more than 16 years of construction and at least 5 billion euros of public funding.
It was supposed to be working by 2011.
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