” Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.”
The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Coleridge
1. Swimming at San Marco‘s
The City on Water has become the City under Water. The second-highest tide in history has left almost 70% of the city underwater. Residents and tourists have been wading through thigh-high water as the lagoon rose to 187 cm above sea level on Monday . Many storied and precious buildings have been severely damaged, including the famous Saint Mark’s Basilica. It is the sixth time that the church has been flooded in its almost 1,000-year history. The mayor of Venice says the damage in the city might add up to 1 Billion Euros.
How does water rise 187 cm above sea level?
The infamous acqua alta is a yearly phenomenon which sees strong winds blow immense amounts of water into the Adriatic Sea. When this high water coincides with a particularly strong astronomical high tide, the effects can be devastating. The geography of the area serves to amplify the effects: creating mini-tides and holding in gathered water. Once the soil becomes waterlogged, the water levels rise inexorably, eventually bursting the banks of the low-lying city.
In typical fashion, the Italians are not ones to let a natural disaster spoil their fashion and have invented stylish boots to allow them to continue their day-to-day lives (and shopping).
While this flooding is not directly linked to rising sea levels or global warming, the fact remains that Venice’s problems are indeed largely man-made. The area around many small islands has been filled in to make room for the airport and other industrial facilities; these islands were responsible for absorbing much of the incoming water. The second issue is the deep channel connecting the lagoon to the ocean. The lagoon is mostly shallow, so a deep channel was dredged to link the port directly to the deeper sea so that oil tankers could reach the city more easily. This channel allows water to flow in much faster than previously possible.
Further Reading: (The Guardian, Euronews)
2. Australia’s Wildfires
The Land Down Under is no stranger to massive fires. Which is why many have not taken serious notice of the gravity of the situation. The worst ever fires occurred in 1974-1975, when 4.5 million hectares were immolated. For comparison, the entirety of Switzerland is only 4.1 million hectares. These devastating fires raged through the entire dry season. The current bushfires are currently still burning in over a million hectares of land – and fire season has just started. Unpredictable winds are driving the fires further throughout all of mainland Australia, with New South Wales and Queensland being hit the hardest. A drought has left large portions of the country dry as tinder, and the temperatures are still rising.
Further Reading: (The Guardian, CNN)
3. Gaza Rockets
The latest round of armed conflict in Israel begun with the assassination of senior Palestinian militant leader. The man, Bahaa Abu al-Ata, was a top commander of Islamic Jihad, the second-largest group of fighters in the region after Hamas. The response from Gaza was swift: rockets rained down in Israel, some even landing close to Tel Aviv. What followed was two days of violence which saw over 34 Palestinians killed by Israeli air strikes. Although more rockets were fired by the Islamic Jihad, there have been no reported Israeli fatalities.
A tentative cease-fire is barely holding. Claiming to have intercepted two more rockets, Israel launched air strikes into Hamas territory, killing not only militants but also civilians. Up until this point, Hamas had only been supporting Islamic Jihad verbally. A further escalation of hostilities remains a very real possibility.
Further Reading: (Al Jazeera; CNN)
