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Venice floods: St Mark’s Square reopens but city on ‘red alert’

  • November 16, 2019

After closing the iconic central square on Friday amid safety concerns, authorities reopened St Mark’s Square on Saturday. However, water levels were still high, peaking at 1.1 meters (3 feet six inches) on Saturday.

City authorities have also issued a “red alert,” their highest possible warning for weather conditions on Sunday. Meteorologists are particularly concerned given predictions of high winds that could increase the tide levels in the lagoon city.

The mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, made a public appeal for donations to help alleviate the damage.

“Venice is the pride of all of Italy, unique to the world,” he said, appealing to people around the world. “Thanks to your help it can shine again.

DW’s Giulia Saudelli reported that water was being pumped out of shops and houses late on Friday.

The Italian national football team also visited the city on Saturday, saying “we stand close to the city of Venice.”

Read more: After the floods: Could Venice lose its World Heritage status?

Police officers patrol St Mark's Square (Reuters/M. Silvestri)

How much will repairs cost?

The mayor estimated damage done so far to be at least €1 billion ($1.1 billion). Authorities have also set up programs to aid individuals and businesses by handing out money. Individuals can expect up to €5,000 and businesses up to €20,000.

The crisis has prompted the Italian government to release €20 million in funds to tackle the devastation. There are concerns that irreparable damage may have been done to some of the canal city’s historic sites.

A state of emergency was declared on Thursday. Flooding began on Tuesday when waters reached a height of 1.87 meters (6 feet 1 inch), the highest since 1966.


  • Flooded St. Mark's Square (picture-alliance/Photoshot/A. Lingria)

    Winter snow, floods arrive early in Europe

    Emergency declared in Venice

    Italy’s canal city is struggling to cope with the worst floods in more than 5 decades. Water levels remain elevated after reaching a peak of 187 centimeters (74 inches) on Tuesday night. Waters rose to knee-high level again around the iconic St Mark’s Square on Friday morning. Residents are questioning why the city’s Mose flood protection plan, drawn up decades ago, is still on the back burner.

  • Two tourists take a selfie in front of St Mark's Basilica (picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS/C. Furlan)

    Winter snow, floods arrive early in Europe

    Tourists grin and bear it

    Authorities in Venice have installed platforms at key locations around the lagoon city to help tourists to cross without getting wet. Outside St Mark’s Basilica, there’s no option but to wade in the floodwaters. While many visitors are making the best of their trips, tourism officials say holidaymakers are canceling in their droves. Many damaged stores have stayed shut for the past 10 days.

  • A bus drives on a snowy road (picture-alliance/dpa/F. Anterion)

    Winter snow, floods arrive early in Europe

    France goes dark as heavy snow falls

    Some 330,000 homes were left without power on Friday after the first major snows of winter hit southeast France. Traffic conditions were difficult in the Rhone-Alpes region, near Lyon. At one point, the A7 expressway was closed to heavy goods vehicles, leaving many trucks stranded. State railway company SNCF canceled all trains between Grenoble and Lyon after the tracks were blocked by snow.

  • As snow plough drives along a snowy road in France (picture-alliance/dpa/MAXPPP/F. Anterion)

    Winter snow, floods arrive early in Europe

    Unusually white November

    One man was killed when a tree fell on him as he tried to clear another fallen tree from a roadway near Grenoble. Heavy snow downed power lines in one Ardeche village causing two dozen residents to be evacuated from their homes. One meteorologist told French TV that snow in mid-November is unusual: “You’d have to go back very far in time to find a similar phenomenon.”

  • A view of the snow in the Austrian state of Carinthia (picture-alliance/EXPA/APA/picturedesk)

    Winter snow, floods arrive early in Europe

    Austria gets more than fair share

    Although used to the snow, Austrians have witnessed several car accidents as a result of the heavy snowfall. Several roads were impassable due to stuck trucks and several rail services were disrupted by snow on the tracks. Some 10,000 homes in four states were left without electricity after trees fell on power cables. Some cables collapsed under the weight of the snow.

  • A woman and her child ride a sled on the Feldberg (picture-alliance/dpa/P. Seeger)

    Winter snow, floods arrive early in Europe

    Not all doom and gloom

    The first snow of winter has arrived on the highest mountain in Germany’s Black Forest. A few centimeters were reported on the Feldberg peak in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, prompting a flurry of activity by snowplows. Several families took advantage of the white covering to go sledding, especially as forecasters said the ice was likely to melt quickly.

  • Snowfall on the Brocken peak (picture-alliance/Frank May)

    Winter snow, floods arrive early in Europe

    The long winter begins

    Further north, the Brocken — the highest peak in Harz National Park —which lies on the borders of the northeastern states of Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony, also saw its first winter snowfall. The area is well-known for its long winters, with several months of continuous snow cover.

  • An English farm is swamped by floodwater (picture-alliance/AP Photo/R. McCarthy)

    Winter snow, floods arrive early in Europe

    English farms, shopping malls deluged

    Several counties in northern England have seen early winter flooding after a month’s worth of rain struck over two days. A woman died after she was swept away in a river in Derbyshire, while dozens of families were evacuated from their homes in neighboring South Yorkshire. Dozens were stranded in two shopping malls and some had to be rescued by firefighters in inflatable dinghies.

  • A tractor drives down a flooded road (picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. Lawson)

    Winter snow, floods arrive early in Europe

    More flooding expected

    On Friday, British authorities issued 250 flood warnings for a much wider area of the UK, including southern England and parts of Wales. The floods have even become an election issue, ahead of next month’s vote. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has been accused of not doing enough to help those affected.

    Author: Nik Martin


ed/bk (AP, dpa, AFP)

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW’s editors send out a selection of the day’s hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/venice-floods-st-mark-s-square-reopens-but-city-on-red-alert/a-51278731?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

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