THE TIBER RUNNING DRY
As a result of the long spell of dry weather this spring and summer, the Tiber river, historic symbol of Ancient Rome, has diminished in volume to the extent that it has dropped a meter and a half lower than its average flow, as registered over the past 16 years. The tributaries that feed the river have been reduced to little more than trickling streams, transforming stretches of the river in the city centre to virtual marshland.
On average the Rome area records an average rainfall of 357 mm but only 137 mm of rain have fallen during this year's four month-long drought.
Looking down from the Bridge of the Angels at Castle Sant'Angelo at the weeds poking up from the shallows it seems impossible to believe that for centuries the city was subjected to flooding. The last great flood, when the Tiber burst its banks and covered the city centre in 2m of water, was in December 1870, just after the Unification of Italy.
Work on the Tiber embankments began in 1876 and involved the construction of 8 kms of 13m-high containing walls, finally completed fifty years later in 1926.
Photo: The Tiber at Castle Sant'Angelo September 2022 by M. Stenhouse
