Venetians furious over failure to activate Moses barrier and protect city from flooding 

A woman mops up water in her flooded shop in Venice following Tuesday's high tide

Credit: AFP

“To have something like Moses and not use it is unfathomable,” said Claudio Vernier, the president of an association of business owners in St Mark’s Square. “Five centimetres more of high tide makes all the difference.”

Iginio Mascari, who runs a spice shop near the Rialto Bridge, also said the barriers should have been raised. “Any fisherman knows that the weather in the lagoon changes from one moment to another,” he told La Repubblica newspaper.

With more high tides predicted on Thursday and Friday, the mayor of Venice said protocols for deploying Moses needed to be reviewed.

Luigi Brugnaro said the city should have more say in whether to raise the barriers. That call is currently made by Rome-based Elisabetta Spitz, the government-appointed commissioner of the infrastructure project.

“It is the city of Venice that must be able to make the decision,” said Mr Brugnaro, who has been mayor for the last five years.  

“We need to find a system which will make us faster and more flexible to react. If the person making the decision is too far away, we risk having the situation that we see now.”