13/11/2019 13:55
Venice floods: Italian city hit by highest tide in 50 years
Parts of the Italian city of Venice have been left under water after the highest tide in more than 50 years.
The waters peaked at 1.87m (6ft), according to the tide monitoring centre. Only once since records began in 1923 has the tide been higher, reaching 1.94m in 1966.
Images showed popular tourist sites left completely flooded and people wading through the streets as Venice was hit by a storm.
St Mark's Square - one of the lowest parts of the city - was one of the worst hit areas. St Mark's Basilica was flooded for the sixth time in 1,200 years, according to church records.
Pierpaolo Campostrini, a member of St Mark's council, said four of those floods had now occurred within the past 20 years. The city of Venice is made up of more than 100 islands inside a lagoon off the north-east coast of Italy.