Venice hit by the worst floods in a decade during which tourists roam the monuments

Venice, Italy, was hit by a particularly high tide on Monday, while more than 5 feet of water covered about 70 percent of the city, according to local officials who said the rise was the strongest since close ten years.

The photos of the Mecca of Italian tourism show visitors and locals strolling through many of the city's most remarkable sights, including St. Mark's Square and the Rialto Bridge. The water rose even higher than the overhead walkways that municipal authorities usually install during the usual floods, thus avoiding people wading through the streets. The authorities finally removed them so as not to damage them.

Local houses and businesses have also struggled to prevent floods, according to the Associated Press.

According to city statistics, floodwaters climbed to about 156 centimeters, just over 5 feet, above normal, the highest level of water recorded since December 2008. The tide should be several feet above normal for most of the week, officials in Venice said.

Italy is facing a wave of bad weather and at least six people have been killed throughout the country. Floods and strong winds invaded the area, felled trees and caused widespread chaos. Popular schools and tourist sites have also been closed in Rome, including the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.

Venice is regularly flooded, often dramatically, as the city has had to deal with rising sea levels and the increasing influx of tourists.

The city has been working on an ambitious engineering project – nicknamed "Project Moses" – to protect Venice from future flood waters, but the effort has been marred by cost overruns and a scandal of Corruption since its inception in 2003. Once the operation is completed, several huge retractable doors costs are expected to block the mouth of the city's lagoons when extremely high tides enter, theoretically protecting Venice until the end. what the waters are withdrawing.

The project is expected to be completed by 2022 and has already cost some $ 6.5 billion. Minor floods would still occur in some areas when the floodwater is below the level required to activate the gate system.

The mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, who shared several videos of St. Mark's Square while he was in the water, praised the application of the law on Twitter during Flooding and repeated that the Moses project would help prevent future disasters.

Despite the bad weather, tourists ventured to see the sights. A few days earlier, the runners took part in the Venice Marathon, sometimes jogging in deep waters until their ankles.

The official announcement of the marathon revealed that the race was held in the "worst conditions of the event" and that the athletes had reached the finish line "with great splashing".