A lingering high-pressure weather system over much of Italy has led to a prolonged stretch of low ebb tides in Venice, leaving some of its smaller canals without water. The major canals still have water.
It’s an unusual feeling for Venice, which is more accustomed to occasional tidal flooding by high water, or ‘acqua alta’ and has led to serious inconvenience not only for those who rely on boats to travel around the city but also to emergency services. The city’s boat-based ambulances have had to tie up on the larger canals, leaving workers to carry patients longer distances on stretchers.
Some have reacted to the sight of canals emptied of water and lined with accumulated muck by calling for more attention to cleaning up the inner canal network.
Elsewhere in the country, the same high-pressure system, combined with lower than usual levels of Alpine snow melt, have lowered water levels in lakes and rivers in the north; at points, it’s been possible to walk to a small island in Lake Garda.
