Gondola Service Halted In Venice As Famous Canals Run Dry
BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, FEB 22, 2023 - 04:45 AM
Part of Venice's vast network of canals has run dry after unusually low tides and drought conditions. The floating city is built in the middle of the Venetian Lagoon at the head of the Adriatic Sea in Northern Italy. Dried-up smaller canals mean some gondolas and water taxis are stranded.
Venice is usually prone to flooding, but a combination of factors, including lack of rain, a high-pressure system, a full moon, and water currents, have led to dried-up canals, according to Reuters.
Italian rivers and lakes are suffering from severe lack of water, the Legambiente environmental group said on Monday, with attention focused on the north of the country.
The Po, Italy's longest river which runs from the Alps in the northwest to the Adriatic has 61% less water than normal at this time of year, it added in a statement. --Reuters
Several pictures and videos have been published on Twitter, showing dried-up canals.
Reuters noted it's impossible to traverse some of the city's canals in gondolas and water taxis.
In smaller canals, there's just mud. In larger canals, the water levels are shallow. Northern Italy desperately needs water following last year's worst drought in 70 years:
"We are in a water deficit situation that has been building up since the winter of 2020-2021," climate expert Massimiliano Pasqui from the Italian scientific research institute CNR was quoted as saying by the daily Corriere della Sera.
"We need to recover 500 millimeters in the north-western regions: we need 50 days of rain," Pasqui added.
Surprisingly, Reuters didn't point to man-made global warming for Venice's water problems. Instead, they said:
An anticyclone has been dominating the weather in western Europe for 15 days, bringing mild temperatures more normally seen in late spring. Latest weather forecasts do however signal the arrival of much-needed precipitation and snow in the Alps in coming days.
Venice could use some of the water from melting Arctic ice that Greta Thunberg and her climate alarmist gang repeatedly warn about. |
