A room in the flooded Gritti Palace is pictured during an exceptional "Alta Acqua" high tide water ... [+] level on November 12, 2019 in Venice. - Powerful rainstorms hit Italy on November 12, with the worst affected areas in the south and Venice, where there was widespread flooding. Within a cyclone that threatens the country, exceptional high water were rising in Venice, with the sirocco winds blowing northwards from the Adriatic sea against the lagoons outlets and preventing the water from flowing back into the sea. At 22:40pm the tide reached 183 cm, the second measure in history after the 198 cm of the 1966 flood. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
Venice, Italy’s famous city of canals, is as much on the front line of climate change as anywhere else, and now that line is under water.
On Tuesday, rains helped bring the seasonal high tides known as acqua alta to near record levels, just seven centimeters short of what was seen during the historic floods of 1966.
“These are the effects of climate change,” Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said on Twitter.
Flooding in Venice during the northern autumn season is a normal and expected occurrence, but high tide data from recent years shows the fingerprints of rising sea levels.
St. Mark’s Square at the city center has gone from flooding four times a year in 1900 to over 60 times annually in recent years. The famous Basilica of the same name also flooded Tuesday for just the sixth time in twelve centuries - the fifth time was in 2018.
The entrance to St. Mark's Basilica is flooded on the occasion of a high tide, in Venice, Italy, ... [+] Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019. The high tide reached a peak of 127cm (4.1ft) at 10:35am while an even higher level of 140cm(4.6ft) was predicted for later Tuesday evening. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Venice is also subjected to the double threat of rising sea levels as well as the fact that the city is sinking from subsidence. And as for the rains that drove the waters to near record levels this week: scientists say more extreme precipitation events are to be expected as the world warms as well.
Venice is relatively ahead of the curve when it comes to adapting to the changes - a system of flood gates to protect the city have been under construction for years and are nearing completion.
Yet some still worry it may be too little, too late. Last year, the Basilica’s administrator said the flooding aged the historic treasure two decades in a single day. There’s been no word of the scale of damages from Monday’s flood just yet.