Much of Venice was under water on Wednesday after storms unleashed record levels of rainfall, flooding buildings and throwing transport into chaos.
An unprecedented 17.3 cm of rain fell between 3 am and 6 am, according to local environmental authority Arpav. Rain was still falling on the lagoon city and the surrounding Veneto region in the early afternoon.
Emergency services were called out repeatedly to deal with flooding in Venice's historical centre but the worst problems were in Mestre, the part of Venice on the Italian mainland.
Civil protection officials urged residents to stay at home as moving by car or bus was in any case practically impossible with many roads covered by 40 cm of water.
Problems were also severe in other Veneto cities such as Treviso. In some areas of the region 10 cm of rain fell in one hour early on Wednesday morning.
