Venice: Floods threaten priceless art and history in the city

UNESCO World Heritage site and popular tourist destination, Venice suffered from high waves and 70 per cent of the city was flooded. All the priceless art and architecture in the city is under threat from the rising floodwaters.

An ancient city under siege

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The recent waves that have flooded nearly 70 per cent of Venice are just less than the flood recorded in 1966 in terms of severity.
Experts have put the blame on climate change and how humans are contributing towards the acceleration of the process, as well as corrupt politicians who do nothing to stop it.

Venice's population has been shrinking for many years due to the high frequency of high tides and if Venice becomes uninhabitable for normal humans then the city will lose a very important aspect that makes it unique: the fact that normal people live there and go about there work there.

50 years ago, in 1966, the city saw floods this severe with an increase in water levels up to 6 feet 4 inches, just like this time the floods also left the city devastated with extensive damage to some of the city's most precious art.

The future looks bleak

Unless Venice completes its already delayed coastal defence system as sea levels rise, the city will become useless as a place for people to live and to enjoy its cultural splendours. The corrosive, salty floodwater damages the marble of the Venice architecture and in the long-term, it also damages the pillars supporting the structures.

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According to Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton University, the long-term prospects of Venice seem grim. He stated that Venice faces the twin threats of rising sea levels - which affect many coastal cities - and a sinking city. The weight of the city itself is compressing the soil below the archipelago. While the priceless artwork in Venice can be moved, the marble floors of the churches can not. 

The future prospects of Venice are directly tied to the fact of how much of a dent humans can put on their carbon emissions in the Future according to Michael Oppenheimer.