Venice Weather

We've had our share of strange weather this year - unusually low tides, freezing canals, aftershocks from all the earthquakes in the vicinity (including another one on Sunday morning), but I think today we've hit a high point. Around noon today a tornado touched down on Sant'Erasmo and Certosa islands, just off of Venice. 

  (Photo courtesy Venessia today) Damage to house on Sant Erasmo

(Photo courtesy Venessia.com)  A view of the twister from St. Mark's square around noon today. I can only imagine what it must have been like to see this firsthand. I was over near Campo Santa Maria Formosa at the time with no view over the water.  I consider myself lucky, I might have been a bit panic ridden had I witnessed this!

Another view of today's tornado (photo courtesy Net1News)

The weather has been freaky to say the least!  Recently we've felt so many earthquake aftershocks we've become a bit too nonchalant at our house. Sunday morning when I went running to find Mike when the chandelier in the living room was rocking back and forth, he commented that it was not another shock, but rather the upstairs neighbors exercising. On Monday, talking with friends in Mestre I discovered it was in fact an aftershock that they also felt at their apartments. Next time, I'm sticking to my guns!

Earthquake #2

About 9am this morning, a second earthquake magnitude of 5.8 shook all of Venice.  Once again, Modena was the epicenter.  This time, we were left with a few reminders- a statue in the garden near Piazzale Roma fell to the ground and shattered.  (photo courtesy of Comune di Venezia)

In the photo, you can see the statue on the left side of the gate still intact. It's twin, on the right side, is no more.

In our apartment, some cracks in the walls are much more pronounced after this earthquake, and some paint fell from the ceiling in one of the bedrooms. Nothing major, but  at the same time, it's a reminder that we were lucky- this time. There were two more aftershocks later in the day, both almost as strong as the first tremors. 15 people are reported dead.  

I have to say that the first time we felt the apartment moving up and down under our feet we were thinking "Wow, this is a first for us. Pretty cool."   After this second event and several aftershocks,  we're not so cavalier.  We've thought about our escape route very carefully and are much more prepared. I'm not thinking "Oh, it will never happen to us here" anymore.

As I finish writing this blog, I'm hoping for an earthquake-less night in Italy. 

Another Earthquake- at 4am this morning

Yes, another earthquake!  We woke around 4am when the bed, and everything around us was shaking. We quickly threw on some clothes and headed outdoors into the garden. Our neighbors were all up, hanging out their windows talking to each other.  I can only tell you it is a very odd sensation to feel this very old building shake and move under your feet!

We've felt a couple of other tremors in the past year or so, but nothing this strong or this long lasting. I dreaded hearing the news this morning, fearing another disaster similar - or worse- to the earthquake suffered in L'Aquila three years ago.

The aftershock we felt about 10 minutes later was minor, but disturbing none the less.

Within minutes, literally a minute or two of when the quake was felt, people in the Venice area were posting on Facebook, asking if anyone else felt it and was everyone ok.  Fascinating use of Facebook!

This mornings news reveals the quake hit northwest of Bologna, and so far 3 deaths reported, but a fair amount of damage to some historic buildings in the area of Modena.

Another Earthquake!!!

Early this afternoon, another terremoto (earthquake) shook our apartment. What the heck is going on in Italy this week??  The epicenter was again near Parma, and about the same intensity as the first one a few days ago. Fortunately for everyone in Italy, no damage was suffered as a result of either of these events.  After everything was over, Mike and I had a little discussion about what it might have been like if the epicenter had been here in Venice. Surely we would have been covered by our building. It's 4 stories high, and we are on the second floor. It's got lots of marble, brick and big thick wooden beams throughout the whole building.  After thinking about all this, I now have an escape plan in mind should we need it in the future. I'm grabbing a big trash bag, throwing my computer, passport, phone and money into this. Then I'm grabbing the dogs and we're jumping into the canal. I am betting the canal is safer than land in a situation like this.

The tax man cometh and a terremoto (earthquake) this morning

The letter you see above from RAI, the Italian TV networks run by the Italian government, was delivered yesterday by our post woman. Here's a little tidbit you should know about if you are ever thinking of living in Italy- if you have  a TV in your apartment, you must pay a special tax to the Italian government of 112 Euros per year, just to have the luxury of plugging the TV into an antenna. Isn't that something?  Fortunately for us this wasn't a shock .  (It was a shock when we initially saw it spelled out in our lease! ) Can any American imagine getting taxed on their TV's every year???  Tomorrow we'll be making a stop at the Post Office to pay the RAI tax. There's something every day, huh??

Speaking of something every day- this morning a little after 9am I was sitting in bed enjoying a cup of tea while checking email on my iPad when I felt a slight vibration. It lasted only about half a minute. I thought it was unusual,  had no idea what it could have been and wondered for a second if it could have been an earthquake, but quickly dismissed it.  I put it out of my mind, until later  this  morning when I read the newspaper to discover there had been an earthquake of magnitude 4.9 this morning centered in the Mantova, Parma, and Emiglia area that reportedly was also felt all over the Veneto area.  I can confirm that, I felt it. Did anyone else?