The Guardian view on Venice: how to save it | Editorial

The city is sinking and time is running out for a solution that must go beyond flood preventionAfter the flood, the terrible reckoning: this week it emerged that one of the most ancient churches of Venice, containing the city's earliest remaining mosaics, had been hit by the tides that overwhelmed the city during the past week. The Byzantine Santa Maria Assunta Basilica, dating to 639, was inundated three times. Half of Venice's 120 or so churches are thought to have suffered damage. The flood waters affected 85% of the city, causing devastation to the shops, businesses and homes of Venetians who struggle to preserve one of humanity's most beautiful achievements as a living city.Those residents have been grievously let down. Some disasters are unforseeable. This one was all too predictable. Tides high enough to flood Venice were once exceptional events, but the 10 highest tides in its history occurred during the course of the last 20 years. The world's seas are rising, due to the climate crisis, and Venice has anyway been sinking, by around 1mm a year, into the soft terrain on which its foundations were built. Continue reading...