BY KERRY LEARY
ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

Venice, the ‘Floating City’ is really underwater after days of rain flooded the city. Here’s the BBC.

“Venice has been hit by one of its worst floods for 150 years. Torrential rain and high tides have left around three quarters of the historic Italian city under water.”

The Daily Mail reports: “Seventy per cent of central Venice was under water yesterday after rainfall and seas whipped up by strong winds brought the Italian city's high tide mark to its sixth-highest level since records began in 1872.”

But the Guardian reports, the tourists are toughing it out and trying to enjoy the high waters -- or as the Italians call them -- “acqua alta .”

“Tourists attached plastic bags to their legs or stripped off to take a dip in St Mark’s Square ... as rising sea waters surged through the lagoon city … Venetians bombarded Facebook with moans about the city’s weather forecasters, who had predicted just 1.2 metres of water on Saturday, before correcting their forecast at dawn on Sunday.”

Venice authorities closed schools and some travel routes around the city. The Voice of Russia reports:

“The city administration is urging citizens not to leave their homes and to remain on the upper floors. In addition to Venice, other cities on the west coast of northern Italy have been hit by the unusual weather. In the region of Tuscany emergency services have already evacuated 200 people from dangerous areas.”

And Sky News reports , the bad weather is heading slowly toward central Italy and will eventually hit Rome, where civil defense services are on alert.