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High tide in Venice could hit twice normal level

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Venice is drowning again, and Friday’s tide could be nearly twice what the city considers normal.

Three days after the worst flooding Venice had seen in more than 50 years, forecasters are warning of another dangerous surge set to hit the lagoon city on Friday, November 15. CBS News correspondent Holly Williams reported from the scene as Mayor Luigi Brugnaro shut down St. Mark’s Square, already standing in knee-deep water, ahead of a predicted tide that could climb to 1.5 or 1.6 meters — roughly double the normal level. The city is still tallying damage from Tuesday’s record-setting flood, and residents are bracing for round two.

• Tuesday’s high tide peaked at 1.87 meters (6.1 feet), the second-highest level ever recorded in Venice, behind only the catastrophic 1.94-meter flood of 1966.
• That flood submerged more than 85 percent of the city, damaged the 1,000-year-old crypt beneath St. Mark’s Basilica, and killed at least two people on the barrier island of Pellestrina.
• Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte declared a state of emergency on Thursday, November 14, and approved €20 million in immediate relief funds for residents and shopkeepers.

A Second Surge Bearing Down on the Lagoon

Forecasters told Italian authorities that Friday’s tide could reach around 1.5 to 1.6 meters, still well short of Tuesday’s near-record 1.87 meters but more than enough to swamp low-lying parts of the city again. Mayor Brugnaro ordered St. Mark’s Square closed Friday morning as a safety precaution, a rare step for a plaza that normally draws thousands of tourists even during acqua alta season. Williams’ report captured the square already sitting under knee-deep water before the new surge had even arrived.

Record Tides Inundate City Infrastructure

The numbers from Tuesday tell the story of just how close Venice came to matching its worst-ever disaster. At 1.87 meters, the tide was the second-highest ever measured in the city, trailing only the devastating 1.94-meter flood of November 1966 that reshaped how Italy thinks about protecting the lagoon. More than 85 percent of Venice went underwater, and the flooding reached places rarely touched by acqua alta, including the 1,000-year-old crypt beneath St. Mark’s Basilica. On the barrier island of Pellestrina, the tide claimed at least two lives.

1.87 meters — Venice’s second-highest tide ever recorded, just shy of the 1.94-meter flood that devastated the city in 1966.

Brugnaro Points to Climate Change and a Mounting Bill

Mayor Brugnaro has been blunt about what he believes is driving the frequency and severity of these floods, directly attributing the disaster to climate change. He estimated structural damage across the UNESCO World Heritage city would run into the hundreds of millions of euros, a figure that covers everything from waterlogged shops and hotels to damage inside centuries-old churches and palazzos. Prime Minister Conte’s emergency declaration and the initial €20 million relief package are meant to get money moving quickly, but officials have acknowledged that full repairs will take far longer and cost far more.

The MOSE Barrier That Still Doesn’t Work

The back-to-back flooding has reignited public anger over MOSE, Venice’s multibillion-euro offshore barrier system designed to hold back exactly this kind of surge. Construction began back in 2003, but the project remains non-operational after years of delays, cost overruns, and corruption scandals that have dogged it for more than a decade. With MOSE still sitting unfinished, a sinking city built on wooden pilings has been left exposed to tides that keep threatening to rewrite the record books.

Venice has weathered acqua alta for centuries, but Tuesday’s 1.87-meter tide and Friday’s follow-up surge are the kind of one-two punch officials had hoped MOSE would have prevented years ago. With Conte’s emergency declaration now in place and damage estimates climbing into the hundreds of millions of euros, the pressure is on Rome to finally get the barrier finished before the next acqua alta season arrives.