 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
Nearly half of Venice underwater
Rome (AFP) Nov 30, 2009 Much of the historic Italian city of Venice, including St. Mark's Square, was underwater Monday following a meteorological depression combined with natural tide waters, officials said. The tide monitoring centre said 45 percent of the Renaissance city was swamped when the lagoon rose 131 centimetres (more than four feet). Venice was flooded 50 times between 1993 and 2002, with the worst 'acqua alta' on November 4, 1966, when the city was submerged by 1.94 metres of water amid catastrophic flooding throughout the country. In February 1986, levels reached 1.58 metres above normal, and in December 2008 waters surged 1.56 metres. The city has for years been wrestling with the problems posed by the threat of rising sea levels. Last year local authorities confirmed they were looking at a scheme to raise the city's buildings to meet the problem. Under Operation "Rialto", local officials and engineers were looking at using piston-supported-poles placed at the bottom of each structure to lift buildings by up to a metre. In April 2007, the United Nations cultural organisation UNESCO warned that Venice was one of its designated World Heritage sites that was threatened by climate change. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters When the Earth Quakes A world of storm and tempest
Saudi king orders inquiry into deadly Jeddah floodRiyadh (AFP) Nov 30, 2009 Saudi King Abdullah on Monday ordered an inquiry into the catastrophic flash flood in Jeddah last week that killed at least 106 people and sparked a rare burst of public outrage. The SPA state news agency said he also ordered that one million riyals (267,000 dollars) in compensation be paid to each family of the victims, many of whom drowned or were crushed in cars by what witnesses called ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2009 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook