After Venice saw massive flooding, highest since 1966, Italy will now declare a state of emergency in Venice after 6 feet water levels affected the city with the Basilica being flooded and power outages across homes. When the tides were at their highest, more than 80 percent of the city was submerged.
Residents of Venice woke to alarms demonstrating that the tide would remain high in the coming days, despite the fact that it was not expected to surpass 50 inches above the sea level.
The Mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, has accused climate change for the highest water levels in over 50 years this week, saying the effect was "gigantic" and will leave a permanent mark. St Mark's Square, which is in the lower areas, was one of the most badly hit areas.
The crypt of St Mark's Basilica has been damaged gravely with the crypt being flooded completely and there are fears that the basilica's segments may have been slightly damaged which might be at least hundreds of millions of euros.
Pumps were used to remove water from the Basilica and the crypt. The city of Venice comprises in excess of 100 islands inside a lagoon off the north-east coasts of Italy. It endures flooding on a yearly basis.
Just once since records started in 1923, has the tide been higher than this week, which was at 1.94 m in 1966. Two people died on the island of Pellestrina, due to flooding on a thin strip of land that isolates the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea.
The flooding in Venice was brought about by a mix of high spring tides and a storm surge flood driven by winds blowing north-eastwards over the Adriatic Sea.
The winds were strong to such an extent that an open water transport, wound up grounded in Venice's Arsenale complex.
Image Credit: bbc.co.uk