Higher tides to flood parts of Venice

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VENICE, Italy, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Italian officials expect parts of Venice to be underwater Wednesday with sea levels expected to be nearly 5 feet above normal.

That's the highest water will have risen in five days of high tides, Agenzia Giornalistica Italia reported Tuesday.

The Venetian Tide Monitoring and Forecast Center predicted the high tides based on weather conditions in the area.

On Tuesday, the waters were more than 3 1/2 feet above sea level, flooding the lowest parts of the city.

Water routinely spills onto Venice's streets during the fall as the high-tide season begins, but conditions have been worsened this year by a nationwide rainstorm, Gazzetta del Sud reported.

Causes of the flooding are both natural and manmade. The underlying foundation of the city was damaged by decades of groundwater pumping, causing some of the flooding. Among several possible nature-related causes, centuries of deposits of silt on the sea floor beneath the city may have raised the sea level.