‘Venice can be saved.’ As tides rise, City of Canals seeks solution.

Like all Venetians, Paolo Brandolisio is accustomed to dealing with the high tides that periodically hit the city.

As a maker of slender wooden oars for gondolas, he knows well the ever-shifting dynamics of Venice’s watery world. But he was shocked, like so many others, by the unprecedented series of tides the city suffered over the last week.

“In the last few years, we’ve seen a lot more high tides. It’s the frequency that is concerning,” says Mr. Brandolisio, standing knee-deep in his flooded workshop, where he makes and repairs oars for Venice’s 450 gondoliers.

He managed to save his most precious pieces of machinery, including a lathe and an electric belt saw, but a machine for sucking up sawdust was lost to the flood as well as supplies of timber, including much-valued chunks of walnut wood.