Venice, World Heritage Site

"We are used to flooding and we know how to deal with it, but my generation has never seen anything like this."
"When I was a kid, it was normal to have an acqua alta [high tide] of 1.1 metres. But now it's normal to experience 1.3, 1.4 metres."
"Sooner or later people's resilience will run out. About ninety percent of my classmates from school have left because living here is a battle."
Alexandro Guggia, 42, Castello District, Venice

"We have to keep going."
"Many people are abandoning Venice and if these dramatic floods continue, you fear that it will one day turn into some sort of legend, like Atlantis."
Chiara Tonello, Venice

San Marco Square remains covered in flood waters days after the second highest tide since 1966 on November 15, 2019, in Venice, Italy.  Getty Images

The 1.87-metre flood inundating Venice on Wednesday last damaged the Byzantine basilica of St.Mark's, while swamping St.Mark's Square and left a tide's-worth of debris in the narrow alleyways leading off the square in the murky brown sludge that crept its way into shops, hotels and homes. But that wasn't the end of it, there was no relief in sight as two days later flood warning sirens once again gave notice that another high tide arrived to raise the lagoon's level 1.6 metres, leaving the city to cope once again with its new underwater emergency and Venetians had little option but to make their way through the flooded alleyways in rubber boots.

The high-water mark hit about 74 inches on Nov. 12, over  85% of the city was flooded.

Luca Bruno, AP

Desperate shopkeepers and restaurateurs made use of mobile pumps in an effort to free their establishments from the floodwaters. Venetians are accustomed to living uncertainly in this most beautiful of heritage cities, like none other. Tourism brings millions of people to the city annually and cruise ships value it as a destination, frustrating residents even as their presence generates badly needed income to help pay for potential solutions to flooding issues. Rising sea levels have played havoc with the city, and many of its residents have fled the pressures of stress.

In the 1950s, Venice had a population of 175,000 fortunate residents. By 2000 that population base was reduced to 65,000 and the ongoing trickle of those leaving the city for good has further eroded its population numbers to its current 52,000 inhabitants. As morale of the people living there is eclipsed by ongoing flooding whose inundation levels continue to grow, people increasingly see no future for themselves in Venice. "We've seen a lot more flooding in recent years. It's the frequency that is concerning", Paolo Brandolisio, a maker of wooden oars to equip the 450 gondoliers who ply the canals of Venice, explains.

Water starts rising again in Venice, northern Italy on Nov. 16, 2019. High tidal waters returned to Venice on Saturday, four days after the city experienced its worst flooding in more than 50 years.

Andrea Merola, EPA-EFE

His oar-making workshop has been flooded time and again. In this latest super-flood he was able to rescue his power lathe and electric belt saw last Friday when his workshop was thigh-deep in water. He lost the use of his wood supplies along with other tools that the floodwaters swamped in his shop and they were unsalvageable. Despite the tribulations owing to increased flooding, the regional government of Veneto rejected measures meant to ward off climate change. And then its historic offices located on the Grand Canal were themselves under flood water, shortly afterward.

Tourists take pictures in a flooded St. Mark's Square.

Luca Bruno, AP

Majority right-wing parties had rejected the climate action plan. "It's rather ironic that the council chamber was flooded two minutes after the majority parties rejected our proposals", ventured Andrea Zanoni, a member of the centre-Left Democratic Party, leaving a senior League member to dismiss any criticism reminding critics that the regional government had set aside 965 million euros ($1.4 billion) in the past three years to address air pollution and climate change problems.

"This is Venice's last hope. I think we should be able to manage our own affairs. We should be separate. It's logical. And it's the only way out of our current situation", stressed Matteo Secchi, president of Venessia.com, a campaign group urging Venetians to vote in favour of a referendum on Venice having a dedicated city council, away from the mainland currently administered as Veneto. "A mayor looking after just Venice would have more time to dedicate to the things that really matter to the city", remarked Jane da Mosto, British head of We Are Here Venice think tank.

Pedestrians walk across the flooded St. Mark's Square past St. Mark's Basilica.

Marco Bertorello, AFP via Getty Images