Last October, Venice’s MOSE tide barrier system proved it was up to the job of preventing the city from serious flooding—the notorious ‘acqua alta—but flooding Wednesday proved it only works if it’s activated. And it wasn’t.
The barrier, built to be effective against a tide three meters above normal, is only activated when there’s a prediction of an above-normal tide greater than 1.2 meters, and the city’s Tuesday forecast erroneously did not predict that, leaving St Mark’s Square and other low-lying areas flooded.
By the time the barrier was raised on Wednesday, it was too late. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro told Italian media that “To activate Mose a bigger forecast is necessary. We will have to review the rules of the command post.” Since October, the system has been successfully activated several times.
