From the BBC:
“Venice test brings up floodgates
for first time”
For the first time a system of 78
mobile floodgates has been tested in Venice, after years beset by delays and
corruption. The 1.5km (one-mile) Mose system of yellow dams was a
"powerful project that has taken years to complete", said Prime
Minister Giuseppe Conte. Venice was hit by the worst floods in half a century
in November 2019. Environmental
protesters took to the lagoon on Friday, saying the barriers would damage the
area. Critics argue the sluice-gate system is 10 years too late. Work on the
Mose project started in 2003, even though it was designed in the 1980s. It has
gone three times over its original budget and resulted in the arrest of dozens
of officials, the BBC's Quentin Sommerville reports from Rome. The coronavirus
pandemic has brought tourism to a halt and stopped cruise ships from entering
the lagoon but rising seas in the Adriatic continue to threaten Venice. Last
autumn, more than 80% of the city was flooded. The prime minister and three
government colleagues visited the control room on Venice Lido to see the 90-minute
operation take place. "We are here for a test, not a parade," he told
reporters. The four defensive barriers were raised and lowered at three inlets
- two at the Lido, and at Malamocco and Chioggia. Under the Mose (Experimental
Electromechanical Module) system, if there is a very high tide, compressed air
enters the 78 sluice gates and empties them of water, so they rise up and block
the tide entering the lagoon. Mr Conte watched from the deck of a coast guard
boat as the Mose system was tested. Friday's test lasted 90 minutes and
officials said at full capacity the barriers could rise in half an hour.
Elisabetta Spitz, the commissioner supervising the project, said it was not
ready yet and would need another 18 months of testing. Protesters from the No
Mose group tried to disrupt the test but police stopped them. "They had
everything in the water, from police jet skis to dinghies, speed boats and
coast guard vessels," protest leader Tommaso Cacciari told Ansa news
agency. "We tried to break the blockade but there was nothing we could
do."
^ Even though this is years late
hopefully it will help stop the flooding that Venice regularly gets. ^
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53361958
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