Venice Hit by Its Worst Flood of the Last 50 Years

With rain pelting down and rising waters, Venice's 'acqua alta' is drowning many of the city's historical sites this year.
Fabienne Lang

The beautiful floating city of Venice in Italy floods yearly in an event called the 'Acqua Alta' or high waters. It offers tourists visiting from late September until April a different photo op and experience, as they wade through knee-high water along with the city's sites.

This year, however, Venice is looking particularly submerged and sad. Having experienced its highest flooding to date last year, the question of rising ocean levels and global warming comes to mind. 

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Venice and the floods

Even though the images of a flooded Venice are taking over Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook posts, it has to be noted that usually only around 10% of Venice actually floods. 

 
 
 
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Wade . . . #venice #venezia #aquaalta #veniceflood #streetphotography @natgeotravel @natgeoyourshot @natgeo

A post shared by Tony Sellen (@ts446) on

The majority of the city remains dry, but places such as St. Mark's Square, which is the lowest point in Venice, do flood on a yearly basis.

 

However, with rising sea levels due to global warming, the chances that a bigger part of the city is going underwater are very real. 

These floods impact many of the city's building foundations, eroding businesses and homes alike every year.

This year, days upon days of unrelenting rain have added to the high watermark in Venice. So make sure to pack your rubber boots, umbrellas, and raincoats if you're planning a visit to the iconic Italian city, as the forecast doesn't look to be changing anytime soon.

This may turn out to be the highest flooding the city's experienced since its devastating 1966 high tides.

Here are some of the many images being posted on different sites about Venice's submerged and sloshy streets:

Others posted the astonishingly high water levels via Twitter: 

Some pictures manage to make the water-imbibed city still look beautiful:

Others showed the clear damage these high waters can place on buildings: 

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