Extreme Acqua Alta

Here is an excellent Venice trip report from Rena in October 2018, experiencing the Acqua Alta. The report expands as the OP answers questions and provides details on the local coping strategies.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/venice-acqua-alta-oct-2018-lessons-learned

Live cam if anyone is interested...

https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/italia/veneto/venezia/piazza-san-marco.html

Hi all,

We're scheduled to be in Venice next week (Monday through Thursday - we're still in the US at the moment, and we fly to Europe tomorrow night). Can any of the experienced folks here give us an idea of what we might expect? Should we change our plans? (The hotel reservation is nonrefundable, but fortunately wasn't too expensive, and it looks like we can easily get a room in another city for those nights if necessary.)

For one thing, note that there is currently a full moon, and tides are always at maximum during that. In one week, it will be a half moon, when tides are at their minimum. So a week from now looks like a good time to go. Lunar cycle is only one factor in Acqua Alta, the others being consistent strong southeast winds blowing water up the Adriatic, and heavy rains dumping extra water into the lagoon.

The acqua alta we experienced was charming (1-2 inches over St Mark's). This one appears to be devastating. Sad as Venice subsides and water levels increase due to climate change. I fear Venice will be a ghost town in 50 years.

Thanks, Sam - I did notice that about the moon phases. So that's one thing in our favor. I see that there's more rain and southeasterly winds in the forecast for Friday, but after that it doesn't look so bad. I guess I'm also wondering not just whether we're likely to experience flooding ourselves, but whether the city will likely still be busy with clean-up efforts from this week. I realize these may be impossible questions to answer, but any insight is much appreciated.

I think I would bet on Venetian resilience. They have been dealing with this for a long time.

KHBuzzard, read the link Barbara gave to Rena's trip report from last year. She and her group had a time getting to their lodging but you will likely not have that tough a time getting to your hotel. I'm sure she would answer specific questions if you had them. She comes to our local RS meet up (which is Saturday if anyone is in the Moscow Idaho area, lol!!) and I can easily contact her if she doesn't see the question.

Khbuzzard, you folks are smart as foxes to have scheduled your visit to a Venice during the half moon! Very shrewd thinking on your part.

I think I would bet on Venetian resilience. They have been dealing
with this for a long time.

If by dealing with means giving people galoshes to wade through the water and putting up elevated planks for them to step on, these are band-aids that don't address the underlying problem which is very serious. Venice continues to sink at a time of increasing sea level rise. The gravity of the problem is outmatched by lack of competent governance. It's not hard to guess where this will (eventually) end.

Thanks, everyone, for the input. I looked at Rena's trip report, and it looks like quite the experience! I have to say, though, it's not the sort of thing I had in mind for this trip. So we're going to keep an eye on the situation and revise plans (or not) accordingly.