NY Times Article about Flooding in Italy

A friend arrived in Venice Sunday afternoon. Their apartment host advised them not to go out until low tide which was about 9PM. She said water was still 2ft deep at low tide. A neighbor gave them some pasta, sauce and cheese to cook for dinner as they couldn’t get out. She did post a photo of espresso and a breakfast roll from their morning today so they must have gotten out. They had electricity altho many didn’t. Schools were closed yesterday.

What a mess for the whole area.

They have a terrible run lately. Liguria had awful storms as well with 10 meter waves recorded at Rapallo. Wiped out the port.

High water has been this way for 900 years, facebook pages of venetians are full of funny pics and "carry on-smiles" . Anytime I read a piece by Povoledo I think "shouldn't drama queens get anxiety meds for free?" For heaven's sake, it's a tide not the Deluge.

I don't know, Dario. I travel to Italy in the winters to avoid tourists and have had my share of inclement weather as a result. But walking through water up to my waist is not my idea of a fun vacation and I'd be spitting nails, as they say...

I know parents from Veneto mainland who take their kids to Venice for the first time in November in the hope of them experiencing the acqua alta. It's a matter of how one looks at things, Povoledo is a drama queen.

A real journalist would cover how venetians carry-on, not scare tourists. Most of those reading international media do not get this is a (very) high tide and nòt a flooding. It took 24 hours for crowds to fill San Marco square again, but the internet will enjoy questions about "the flooding in Venice" for weeks.

". . . . The cathedral itself was damaged by flooding as water submerged part of the floor in the central part of the basilica for only the fifth recorded time in its nine-century history, officials said."

Sounds terrible. I worry about Ravenna too, but have not been able to find anything out.

Reports are that it is one of the worst floods (apart from 1966) in years, not typical Acqua Alta.

From the reports I've read, this was a very bad storm, and not just a higher than normal aqua alta. No doubt the Venetians will bounce back quickly. But lives were lost south of Venice. 10 was the last I saw. 2 cruise ships also broke free of their moorings due to the high winds. One was Celebrity Constellation, which came into contact with another cruise ship moored behind her. The other ship's name escapes me right now, but she swung 180 degrees before control was regained, but missed hitting another ship. Numerous reports of cruise ships having to remain in port for an extra day until the storm passed.

Reports are that it is one of the worst floods (apart from 1966) in years, not typical Acqua Alta.

It's a typical Acqua Alta Because the tide has passed, the wind has stopped and tourists are walking again in San Marco square. Right now. Who would think so reading Povoledo's article? I'm afraid she really thinks that the Acqua Alta is caused by rain.
I'm speaking about Venice, can't get the connection with the workers who decided not to stop repairing a road in Calabria during a storm or the poor guy in the hills north of Turin whose car was hit by a falling tree. Those are real tragedies, not a very high tide in a lagoon. The truth is that You get more clicks if you use a title about flooding in Venice.

This might “just” be aqua alta, as Dario suggests. However, this was the highest tide since December 2008, and that is significant.

I believe the tide height was about 160cm, and the pavement in the Piazza on the north side is around 77 centimetres. So the water sloshing up against the windows of Quadri was about 90 cm deep. There is no way that the barriers erected across the doorways plus the sump pumps can keep up with that.