http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2231342/Tourists-Venice-swap-gondolas-wellington-boots-swimwear-Floating-City-flooded-high-tides.html
The Floating City: Heavy rains flood Venice and reach the sixth highest tide level in 150 years
- 70 per cent of central Venice underwater today reaching 59 inches
- Tourists waded through waters in wellington boots and donned swimwear
- Iconic St Mark's Square flooded leaving normally bustling square deserted
By LARISA BROWN
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It may be known as the Floating City of love.
But romance was cast aside today as gondolas were swapped for wellington boots and swimwear.
High tides and heavy rain flooded Venice's dry streets, leaving tourist hotspots virtually deserted.
Tourists chose to wade through the waters in boots, with one group donning swimwear to sit at a table in the iconic submerged St Mark's Square.
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People sit at the table of a bar in a flooded St. Mark's Square today after high tides have flooded the romantic city in Italy
A young man and a woman enjoy swimming in a deserted square that is usually dry and inundated with tourists
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Heavy rains and seas whipped up by strong winds brought the lagoon city's high tide mark to its sixth-highest level since records began being kept 150 years ago in 1872.
The water levels rose to critical levels overnight.
It was reported that 70per cent of central Venice was under water today as the high tide mark reached 59.06inches.
Water, water everywhere: The usually crowded Saint Mark's Square was deserted as flood waters rose making it impossible to visit
Washed out: The view towards St Mark's Basin looks a little different from normal. More than 70 per cent of Venice has been left flooded after the city was hit by a high tide
A tourist crosses flooded the iconic square carrying a suitcase on her shoulder while wading through the waters
Wearing plastic bags to cover his legs, a tourist carries two suitcases in flooded waters
70per cent of central Venice was underwater today
A shop assistant controls the tide that threatens to inundate his shop in the romantic city
Those who decided to take a break from the flooded streets were captured in wellington boots standing in water in coffee shops.
Makeshift wooden walkways had to be used to cross areas of St Mark's square, with transportation proving difficult for residents.
Italian news reports said the same weather system causing chaos in Venice was wreaking havoc elsewhere in north and central Italy, with some 200 people evacuated from their homes in hard-hit Tuscany.
Flooding is common in the city at this time of year. Moveable barriers that would rise from the sea bed to protect Venice from high tides have been in the works for years but will not be operational before 2014.
Parents carry their children and possessions wrapped in carrier bags in a small street today
Tourists walk on footbridges near the Rialto bridge as heavy rain puts a dampener on their tour of the city
One tourist takes off their boots to walk on a makeshift footbridge in the rain
VIDEO: Tourists wade in waist-high water in the heart of the ancient city
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/11/venice-floods-high-water-italy
Venice 'high water' floods 70% of city
Venetians direct anger at forecasters after 'exceptional and unpredictable' rise in sea waters floods homes and businesses
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Cafes in St Mark's Square, Venice, were subsumed by the rising floodwaters – said to be the sixth highest since 1872. Photograph: Marco Secchi/Getty Images
Tourists attached plastic bags to their legs or stripped off to take a dip in St Mark's Square in Venice on Sunday as rising sea waters surged through the lagoon city. High water measuring 1.49 metres (5ft) above the normal level of the Adriatic sea came with bad weather that swept Italy at the weekend, causing floods in historic cities including Vicenza as well in the region of Tuscany 250 miles further south.
Venice's high water, or "acqua alta", said to be the sixth highest since 1872, flooded 70% of the city and was high enough to make raised wooden platforms for pedestrians float away. The record high water in Venice – 1.94 metres in 1966 – prompted many residents to abandon the city for new lives on the mainland.
Venetians bombarded Facebook with moans about the city's weather forecasters, who had predicted just 1.2 metres of water on Saturday, before correcting their forecast at dawn on Sunday.
"How come the people from the council who put out the wooden platforms were predicting 150cm?" asked Matelda Bottoni, who manages a jewellery design shop off St Mark's Square, which floods when water reaches 105cm. "Many residents and shopkeepers had gone to the mountains for the day and did not have time to rush back."
Bottoni is so used to floods she has installed waterproof furniture and an angled floor. "I cannot keep the water out, but at least I can make sure it goes straight back out when it recedes," she said.
Matteo Secchi, a hotelier and head of a protest group, who grew up in ground floor flat in Venice and recalls splashing into water on getting out of bed, said his hotel was only safe up to 140cm. "This morning the lagoon came right into the hotel entrance, and this is not clean water – you need to mop with disinfectant twice after it goes down," he said. "The British tourists don't complain but the Americans can't understand how it's possible."
Secchi complained that a running event around the city had not been cancelled on Sunday. "As Venetians were trying to fix their homes and shops, people were running down the flooded streets splashing everyone with water," he said.
Alessandro Maggioni, the city's assessor for public works, defended the Venice weather centre, describing the high water as "exceptional and unpredictable". The Moses flood barrier system being built to protect the lagoon, due for completion in 2015, would have kept the city dry, he said. "Meanwhile, there is no rise in the incidence of high waters," he said.
Bottoni disagreed. "My shop now has some form of flooding 100 days a year, up from 30-40 days when I moved in just 10 years ago." But she does not plan to leave. "I was born and raised here and will stay here for the satisfaction of being in Venice."
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