A Wake Up Call to the World From Venice

   In November, a sudden surge storm washed over the city of Venice covering over 85% of the city. Venice has always depended on the water surrounding them but never to drown their city out. This storm created the second-highest tide in Venice with tides more than 6 feet above sea level. The surge made a billion dollars of destruction to the city of art, washing away famous mosaics like St. Mark’s mosaic, and destroying beautiful structures like Fondaco Dei Tedeschi in its path. 

         The tides are ruining the city with every crash on Venice. It’s ruining the foundations and mosaics because of the salt that the water carries.  Italians like to call salt “cancer” because it wears down the art like mosaics and structures. The people are also worried if Venice will go underwater all the great art pieces will be gone forever. 

       For many days straight in November, the city of Venice woke  up to the sound of powerful waves roaring through their streets. The city is slowly sinking, and the water is rising more frequently everyday. Three of the eight highest tides that occurred in Venice happened all in November. This makes people worry about how much the city can take from the storm tides. 

The people of Venice think this is a wake up call about climate change. The city usually only gets floods every four years, but now they are getting floods everyday. The people of Venice can’t do much about the chaotic floods except build the “Moses”. It’s a gate that has 78 retractable gates to block out high tides from getting into the city, a gate that you can open and close when tides come in. The tides have been coming in everyday which makes the people afraid that they might have to keep the gate closed forever, but the gate can’t withstand that much water.