Can a New Barrier System Protect Venice From Future Floods?
Venice has conducted a trial run of an ambitious anti-flood system of 78 inflatable barriers in hopes of protecting the lagoon city from devastating high tides. Premier Giuseppe Conte on Friday at a ceremony in Venice pressed a button that activated compressors to pump air into the bright yellow barriers, which then started rising from the sea to act as a kind of a dike-on-demand. All 78 barriers were successfully raised, authorities said. Photo by Ihor Serdyukov/Shutterstock Tourists in Venice during the historic floods in November 2019. The project, riddled by corruption, was supposed to be working in 2011. Now the latest date is 2021, but Conte expressed hope it could be ready by this autumn. In November 2019, Venice suffered its worst flooding in more than 50 years. The projects name, Moses, recalls the Biblical figure who, the Old Testament recounts, parted the waters of the Red Sea. But it also is the Italian acronym for Experimental Electromechanical Modules. The movable floodgates are attached by hinges to cement blocks on the seabed along three openings from the sea into the lagoon. After high-tide danger ceases, seawater is pumped into the gates to make them heavy so they can be lowered. Inaugurated in 2003, the project was mired in corruption. In 2014, investigators revealed a system of bribes and kickbacks. Nearly 6 billion euros (US$6.5 billion) have been poured into the planning and construction of the anti-flood system.