Gondola Service Halted In Venice As Famous Canals Run Dry

Part of Venice’s vast network of canals has run dry after unusually low tides and drought conditions. The floating city is built in the middle of the Venetian Lagoon at the head of the Adriatic Sea in Northern Italy. Dried-up smaller canals mean some gondolas and water taxis are stranded.

Venice is usually prone to flooding, but a combination of factors, including lack of rain, a high-pressure system, a full moon, and water currents, have led to dried-up canals, according to Reuters. 

Italian rivers and lakes are suffering from severe lack of water, the Legambiente environmental group said on Monday, with attention focused on the north of the country.

The Po, Italy’s longest river which runs from the Alps in the northwest to the Adriatic has 61% less water than normal at this time of year, it added in a statement. –Reuters 

Several pictures and videos have been published on Twitter, showing dried-up canals.  

🚨| NEW: Pictures show grounded gondolas and miserable tourists in Venice as canals run dry due to drought and low tide‼️ pic.twitter.com/by2K1lQwSJ

— Pubity (@PubityIG) February 21, 2023

Venice waterways dry up as Italy braces for another year of severe drought
The dry winter in Italy follows an exceptional drought last year that caused the country to declare a state of emergency for critical agricultural areas surrounding its longest river. pic.twitter.com/BW5ureV2xg

— news lense (@gazzettanews1) February 21, 2023

Reuters noted it’s impossible to traverse some of the city’s canals in gondolas and water taxis.  

😳😳😢Gondolas, water taxis and ambulances cannot freely move around the city due to the drying up of canals in Venice

The Guardian writes about it.

The reason for such anomalous drought in the city, experts cite, in particular, low tides, lack of rain, a decrease in… pic.twitter.com/Gczky8B1iF

— 🇺🇦 C.A. Tim Gravett 🇨🇦 🍁🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@TimGravett) February 21, 2023

Watch the water.
Venice. pic.twitter.com/Y2oAx9n0Wm

— Jabobfre likke (@541patriot) February 11, 2023

In smaller canals, there’s just mud. In larger canals, the water levels are shallow. Northern Italy desperately needs water following last year’s worst drought in 70 years:

“We are in a water deficit situation that has been building up since the winter of 2020-2021,” climate expert Massimiliano Pasqui from the Italian scientific research institute CNR was quoted as saying by the daily Corriere della Sera.

“We need to recover 500 millimeters in the north-western regions: we need 50 days of rain,” Pasqui added.

Surprisingly, Reuters didn’t point to man-made global warming for Venice’s water problems. Instead, they said:

An anticyclone has been dominating the weather in western Europe for 15 days, bringing mild temperatures more normally seen in late spring. Latest weather forecasts do however signal the arrival of much-needed precipitation and snow in the Alps in coming days.

Venice could use some of the water from melting Arctic ice that Greta Thunberg and her climate alarmist gang repeatedly warn about.