"Venice Is On Its Knees": These Apocalyptic Photos Show The Historic City's Worst Flooding In Decades
The mayor said the flooding, which has submerged more than 85% of the historic city, is the result of climate change.
The highest tide in decades has submerged more than 85% of Venice in floodwaters, causing catastrophic damage to the historic Italian lagoon city and its monuments.
"Venice is on its knees," Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said on Twitter on Wednesday. "The Basilica of St. Mark's has suffered serious damage like the entire city and the islands."
Brugnaro, who has blamed climate change for Venice's second-worst flooding on record, declared a state of emergency and said the city will "need everyone's help to overcome these days that are putting us to the test."
The flooding, prompted by strong winds that pushed a high tide into the city, has caused at least one death — an elderly man was electrocuted while trying to repair a hydraulic pump on the island of Pellestrina — closed schools, theaters, and conservatories; submerged the crypt at St. Mark's Basilica; and sunk motorboats and ferries, a critical mode of transportation.
Venice was built on a series of small islands in a shallow lagoon and has slowly been sinking, a situation exacerbated by rising sea levels as a result of climate change. The flooding this week is the highest recorded in the city since an unprecedented flood in 1966.
"I have never seen something like what I saw yesterday afternoon [Tuesday] at St. Mark's Square," said Venice’s patriarch, Monsignor Francesco Moraglia, according to CNN. "There were waves as if we were at the beach."

A view inside the flooded St. Mark's Basilica.

A shopkeeper throws out water from his shop.

A woman pushes her floating luggage through St. Mark's Square.

Workers trudge through the flooded crypt of St Mark's Basilica.

People wade through water in Venice.

Café chairs are piled in a flooded St. Mark's Square.

People walk on a catwalk in the flooded St. Mark's Square.

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro walks through the flooded St Mark's Square.

A seller of masks sits on a chair in his flooded shop in Venice.

People walk outside through a flood in Venice.

A woman walks her dog through a flooded street after an overnight high tide, Nov. 13.

People walk through a flooded Venice.

A room in the flooded Gritti Palace, Nov. 12.