Venice Is Flooding Because of Climate Change, But Corruption Is Keeping It Under Water

By BRITTANY SHOOT October 30, 2018

More than 75% of the Italian city of Venice was inundated by high tides and extreme winds on Monday and Tuesday, leaving most of the so-called “Floating City” with the worst flooding in a decade. After two days of heavy rain across Italy, Venice, known for its iconic waterways, can hopefully begin to recover.

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So why is Venice flooded? One answer is climate change, which has turned the lagoon city’s proximity to the sea problematic in recent years. Some estimates suggest the Mediterranean Sea levels will rise five feet by the end of the century, which could cause the city to flood twice daily. Currently, Venice experiences fairly severe flooding about four times annually.

Another reason Venice is flooded has to do with corruption. For decades, city officials have been planning and working to erect a series of flood barriers meant to stave off some of the worst tides and storms that Venetians and visitors to the area are at least somewhat used to tolerating. Construction on underwater flood barriers, known as the Moses project, started in 1966 but didn’t get going in earnest until 2004. (MOSE is an acronym for an acronym for Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico.)

Since that time, the project—one of the world’s most complex, large-scale civil engineering projects ever attempted—has been plagued by fraud. In 2014, Venice’s then-mayor Giorgio Orsoni, along with 30 others, was arrested for charges including corruption, illicit party financing, and tax fraud totaling $6.8 billion. Orsoni was accused of taking roughly $635,000 (€560,000) in illicit campaign financing from the consortium behind the flood barrier. Orsoni resigned and received a four-month suspended sentence. He was also required to pay a $17,000 (€15,000) fine, according to the Telegraph.

And while that may have been among the higher-profile corruption cases associated with Moses, it was by no means the first. Previous arrests targeted individuals charged with rigging contracts, according to Reuters.

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