Venice canals and lagoons overflow, leaving the city flooded

This week, the streets of Venice have been left flooded with salt water due to severe weather and a noticeable lack of adequate flood barriers.

According to fortune.com, the “floating city” has experienced the worst flooding in a decade, after high tides and gusts of wind on Monday and Tuesday left the canals of Venice overflowing – and it’s streets filled with salt water.

In the past few days, at least 11 people have died across the country as a result of the severe weather. Tides reached 1.5 metres above sea level, and consequently, 70 per cent of Venice was submerged.

Around half of Italy has been directly impacted: almost 6000 firefighters have been called to over 7000 emergency rescue calls, fortune.com reported.

#29ottobre #maltempo a Venezia poliziotti della questura in aiuto in #piazzasanMarco a turisti rimasti bloccati a causa acqua alta #essercisempre pic.twitter.com/uJUz6GlPEq

— Polizia di Stato (@poliziadistato) October 29, 2018

And according to the Australian Financial Review, locals are worried about the salt water eating its way through the city’s restaurants and landmarks – as the brickwork is already corroding due to constant water infiltration.

City officials have been planning to construct some serious flood barriers for decades now, but have been held back by fraud and corruption.

In 2014, Venice’s then-mayor Giorgio Orsoni was arrested for corruption, illicit part financing and tax fraud, among other charges. He was also accused of taking over $600,000 in illicit campaign financing from the flood barrier consortium.

The flood barriers construction began in 2004, and once completed, will protect the majority of Venice from severe flooding for the next 30 years, according to fortune.com.