Venice underwater

A nasty (and deadly) storm has hit northern Italy and has made things rather difficult for folks in and around Venice:

In the canal city of Venice, rising floodwaters overwhelmed many of its famed squares and walkways, with officials saying as much as 75% of the city is now submerged. 

Venice's central St Mark's Square was closed on Monday afternoon, after the water level reached "acqua alta" (high water) of 156cm (5.1ft). It is the fourth highest level ever recorded.

Flooding is not unusual in low-lying Venice, but this flood is particularly bad. To give an idea of just how badly the city has been inundated, here's a picture I took from a gondola station along the Grand Canal at the Rialto Bridge last summer...


..and here's the view from the same gondola station during the flooding:

Stefano Mazzola / Awakening / Getty

See here for this and several other pictures of the flooding. Schools and hospitals were closed, and tourists walked about the city on narrow elevated catwalks.

As bad as Venice has gotten it, at least it seems to have been spared some of the worst of the weather:

Beyond Venice in the north, it was a story of high winds, fallen trees and landslides.
In the wider Veneto region, a man was killed by a tree and a volunteer fireman died in the north-eastern border region of Alto Adige, also known as South Tyrol. 

A 61-year-old man was found dead in a river near Belluno, Veneto, close to where his car had been discovered earlier. 

A woman was killed when her home was hit by a landslide and a fisherman's body was found hours after he went to check on his boat on a lake in Trento. South of the beach resort of Rimini, a kite-surfer aged 63 died when he was hurled against rocks. 

Across Italy six people died on Monday and further deaths were confirmed on Tuesday.

Yikes. Hopefully this passes soon and things get back to normal.