In Pictures

In Pictures: Venice flooded by record-high tide

Second-highest tide ever sweeps through Italian city overnight, flooding its famous basilica.

Powerful rainstorms hit Italy on Tuesday, with the worst affected areas in the south and Venice, where there was widespread flooding. [Marco Bertorello/AFP]

13 Nov 2019

Venice’s mayor has called the city a disaster zone after the second-highest tide ever recorded swept through it overnight, flooding its famous basilica and leaving many squares and alleyways deep under water.

The worst flooding in the Italian city in more than 50 years prompted calls on Wednesday to better protect the historic city from rising sea levels as officials calculated hundreds of millions of euros in damages.

“Venice is on its knees,” Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said on Twitter. “St. Mark’s Basilica has sustained serious damage, like the entire city and its islands.”

Night-time footage showed a torrent of water whipped up by high winds raging through the city centre while Luca Zaia, governor of the Veneto region, described a scene of “apocalyptic devastation”.

The exceptionally intense “acqua alta”, or high water, peaked at 1.87 metres (six feet) late on Tuesday, forcing stranded tourists to wade through rapidly rising waters in the dark in search of safety as the flood alarm rang out.

Only once since records began in 1923 has the water crept even higher, reaching 1.94 metres in 1966.

Brugnaro said the situation was dramatic. “We ask the government to help us. The cost will be high. This is the result of climate change,” he said on Twitter.

A flood barrier was designed in 1984 to protect Venice from the kind of high tides that hit the city on Tuesday, but the multibillion-euro project, known as Mose, has been plagued by corruption scandals and is still not operative.

The flooded crypt of St Mark's Basilica is pictured during a moment of exceptionally high water levels in Venice. [Manuel Silvestri/Reuters]

Tables and chairs bobbed along alleyways in the dark, as locals and tourists alike waded through the streets, the water slopping over the top of even the highest boots. [Andrea Merola/EPA]

The highest water level ever recorded was 1.94 metres (6.4 feet) during the infamous flooding in 1966. [Luca Bruno/AP Photo]

People walk on benches through floodwaters in Venice. [Andrea Merola/EPA]

A photographer takes pictures in a flooded St Mark's Square in Venice. [Luca Bruno/AP Photo]

Much of Italy has been pummelled by torrential rains in recent days, with widespread flooding, especially in the southern parts of the country. [Andrea Merola/EPA]

Workers in the flooded St Mark's Square during a period of seasonal high water in Venice. [Manuel Silvestri/Reuters]

The worst flooding in Venice in more than 50 years prompted calls to better protect the historic city from rising sea levels. [Marco Bertorello/AFP]

Floods of 1-1.2 metres (three to four feet) above sea level are fairly common in the lagoon city and Venice is well-equipped to cope with its rafts of pontoon walkways. [Andrea Merola/EPA]