Aqua Alta Flood hits Venice

                                                            A personal photo from Venice.

In my time in Europe, Venice was probably the biggest surprise city to me. I really can't explain why, I guess I just didn't have really high expectations, and it turned out to be one of my favorite cities to visit in Europe. You absolutely get the feel while you're in Venice like there is no other place like this in the world. Also, perhaps my favorite thing about Venice, is that there's really nothing to do in Venice. That sounds bad, but it's what makes the city. There's no must see monument or museum, it's just the city itself that's such an attraction. All I did for the day I was there was walk around the city, and that was perfect, and it made for an awesome experience. With all this being said, as a visitor you can absolutely see the potential for flooding problems. As I said, Venice is unlike any other city in the world. I didn't know the exact numbers until I read this article on current flooding problems in Venice, but the city is 118 small island connected by 160 canals. That's crazy! Aqua Alta floods are caused by a combination of high tides and strong winds. In the case of Venice, the Mediterranean surrounds the entire city, and the risk of flooding is just part of living and visiting there. At this point, it's tough to say what Venice can do to prevent this type of hazard or what type of mitigation techniques can be used. The city essentially a bunch of buildings that are hundreds of years old surrounded by a large body of water. The city probably wasn't a wise decision to build in the first place, and Aqua Alta flooding is just a part of Venice. The article does bring up an extremely interesting point though: More damage is done to these ancient building by the vibrations of cruise ships than by flooding. While we may think that this flooding puts the city in extreme danger, the vibration of cruise ships, something that happens daily, has more of an impact. I don't think too many people would have guessed that, but what are the chances that cruise ships will stop going to one of the most beautiful cities in the world? My recommendation, see Venice while you can. Who knows how much longer these buildings and this city will be standing. It's definitely a city that's worth seeing, and it is truly unique.
http://www.weather.com/travel/acqua-alta-strikes-again-venice-photos-20131009