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Venice 'On Its Knees' after 2nd-Worst Flood Ever Recorded

Associated Press

   VENICE, ITALY - The worst flooding in Venice in more than 50 years
   prompted calls Wednesday to better protect the historic city from
   rising sea levels as officials calculated hundreds of millions of euros
   in damage.

   The water reached 1.87 meters (6.14 feet) above sea level Tuesday, the
   second-highest level ever recorded in the city and just 7 centimeters
   (2 inches) lower than the historic 1966 flood. Another wave of
   exceptionally high water followed Wednesday.

   "Venice is on its knees," Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said on Twitter. "St.
   Mark's Basilica has sustained serious damage, like the entire city and
   its islands."

   One death was blamed on the flooding, on the barrier island of
   Pellestrina. A man in his 70s was apparently electrocuted when he tried
   to start a pump in his dwelling, said Danny Carrella, an official on
   the island of 3,500 inhabitants.

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