When a flood occurs in Venice, the inhabitants of this wonderful Italian city have a lot of problems. It is known that the settlement is located on the islands, of which there are about one hundred and twenty in this area (Venetian Lagoon). About one hundred and fifty channels flow between them, over which four hundred bridges are thrown.
The restless life of the townspeople due to the neighborhood with large water bodies has always been. In ancient times, the settlement (and the city exists somewhere from the 4th-3rd century BC) was flooded more than once, so the ancient settlers, after they were covered by another flood in Venice, had to move all the buildings higher to the hills. They learned how to build houses on stilts so well that some government officials at the beginning of this millennium compared them to birds living on the water. The city's insular position has enabled it to prosper through international and local trade, fishing and s alt mining.
It must be said that a major flood in Venice couldvery quickly destroy this settlement, tk. the buildings are very light. The bottom of the lagoon is saturated with silt and is very unstable, so the foundations here have always been built multi-layered. At the bottom, they consist of piles made of Russian larch (almost does not rot), in the middle of a wooden foundation, on which, in turn, stone slabs lie. The walls of the houses are made of limestone, and the partitions are thin and wooden, so any significant flow of water will blow them away in minutes.
Those who want to see the fabulous city must hurry. After all, he goes under water at a speed of about five millimeters per year. The increasing number of buildings affects, as well as the intake of water from wells. The latter causes subsidence of the soil. To prevent a catastrophic flood in Venice from happening or happening as late as possible (the date of the final sinking is 2028), a protective MOSE project has been erected near the city to protect the lagoon from the high tides of the Adriatic Sea.
What factors provoke flooding? In Venice in 2013, as well as in 2012, natural disasters were caused by heavy rains and south winds, which caused the water to rise above the critical level by one and a half meters. This led, for example, to courageous tourists taking pictures at cafe tables in the main square of the city in chest-deep water, while the rest moved around the city in fishing pants with suitcases on their shoulders.
Nature has done significant damagea city like Venice. The flood, the latest news of which in 2013 refers to winter, not only led to an increased level of water, but also caused some damage to property due to the formation of an ice crust on the surface, which scratched boats and walls of buildings. During this period, schools and a number of government institutions were closed, and tourist flows decreased. Many owners of shops adjacent to the canals suffered losses due to damage to goods and a decrease in the number of visitors. After all, the city lives mainly at the expense of guests, whose number reaches fifteen million a year.
