I hadn't realized that Venice was flooded. But apparently it is, according to The New York Times. I particularly loved this paragraph from the Times article:

Work began on the $5.5 billion project five years ago and is expected to be completed around 2011. Had the dam system been in place, "it would have prevented what happened yesterday and also today," said Flavia Faccioli, a spokeswoman for the state consortium that is building the dams.

This is just more evidence that rich countries probably won't have too hard a time coping with most of the effects of global warming. Even if sea levels rise by ten feet, I doubt whether the US Government or the City of New York would hesitate to build some elaborate system to keep Manhattan dry. I also see this as more evidence that the real economic problem posed to the developed world by global warming is the influx of refugees from countries that can't afford the same kinds of sophisticated systems.