Anyone who has ever visited this extraordinary city will know the devastation the annual high tides cause when the waters creep over the embankments and flood much of it. I took this photo about 6 years or so ago when the water depth was probably around a third of a meter. This year's floods have seen the water peaking at 1.5 meters. The hugely expensive lagoon barriers will not be operational till 2014. Hopefully they will prove effective and help save the city for future generations.

 

 

The photo below from Sky News is particularly sad. Those monster cruise ships sailing so close to such vulnerable buildings must be doing some damage (although the telephoto lens makes the liner look closer than in reality). They should be banned - but being Italy, it will never happen!

 

Photo: Sky News

That photo is surrealistic, like a disaster movie almost. I had no idea such big ships could do that.

 

From the tourists point of view, how awful to arrive at the train station just as a cruise ship disgorges its passengers. Presumably Venice Council, or whoever have responsibility for running the city, know when a cruise ship's due to dock so a call to them will tell the day visitor which days to avoid.

As I understand it, one of these monster cruise ships goes in and out every day. They don't go up the Grand Canal - thankfully. They veer left around St. Mark's Square and go up the parallel channel to the cruise terminal.

If the boat moves slowly enough, it will not generate waves & will have no effect on the flooding.

I presume they have some kind of controls on this.