Predictably, Venice is swamped by high seas...

ROME (AFP) - A steep rise in sea levels swamped part of the historic lagooon city of Venice amid storms and heavy rains that have beaten down on Italy over the past 24 hours.

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On the other side of the peninsula, at La Spezia, a storm slammed a bulk carrier against a jetty, holing it and dumping thousands of litres of fuel into the harbor, the Italian news agency ANSA said.

Venice was hit by a common seasonal phenomenon as winds and tides backed up the Adriatic waters, causing levels in the lagoon to rise.

According to the city's flood center, the water rose 1.32 meters (four foot four inches) above normal sea level.

In Saint Mark's Square, which was covered by about 20 centimeters of water, the rare tourists covered their shoes with plastic bags.

Forecasters said the water level was expected to decline Sunday, but warned the weather would turn for the worse again on Tuesday.

The government is building a system of barriers at the entrance to the lagoon to prevent a repetition of the catastrophic 1966 flood that saw the Renaissance canal city submered under two meters of water.

But the barrage, consisting of 78 hinged barriers resting on the sea flood, is not expected to be finished before 2011...

Climate Change / Four Battlefronts : A global threat laps at the gates of Venice

...Intensified storm activity associated with global warming is likely to aggravate the impact. An increase in siroccos, the winds that sweep in from the Sahara, has already raised the frequency of surge tides that flood sidewalks and ground floors here.
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"One can expect high waters that are very destructive, very frequent and perhaps almost permanent at certain times" in Venice, according to Pierre Lasserre, a marine biologist who directs the offices here of the UN Educational, Scientific and Educational Organization.
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Venice's battles with climate change offer a glimpse of what other low-lying cities will face in coming decades, according to environmental experts...

...Other major cities that risk troubles with rising water include New York and Miami. Tens of millions of people, especially in Bangladesh and Southeast Asia, face serious or permanent flooding of their land if the climate change predictions become reality. In Europe, storm surges in the North Sea or the Baltic could eventually make it too expensive to preserve low-lying regions along the Dutch, German and Danish coasts...
JUST THE BEGINNING? —There's no question that the problem has worsened and the threat is real. Last year alone, high waters inundated St. Mark's Square, the city's main piazza and lowest point, more than 90 times. That compares to fewer than 60 occasions during the entire decade of the 1920s.
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Paintings by the Venetian master Canaletto, which show the waterline on buildings, indicate that the tides now lap the walls 80 centimeters, or 31 inches, higher than two centuries ago. Marble steps leading down to the canals, above water at the beginning of the 20th century, are now submerged except at low tide.
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That could just be the beginning...