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| Venice warned of serious flooding | Venice warned of serious flooding |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Venice has been put on flood alert, with Italian officials warning the sea could rise 1.6m above its normal level - the highest in almost 30 years. | |
| Many of Venice's streets, including the famous St Mark's Square, were already under water on Monday morning. | Many of Venice's streets, including the famous St Mark's Square, were already under water on Monday morning. |
| The lagoon city in the Adriatic suffers some level of flooding for about 200 days every year. | The lagoon city in the Adriatic suffers some level of flooding for about 200 days every year. |
| The authorities are planning to complete building an underwater dam to protect the city by 2011. | The authorities are planning to complete building an underwater dam to protect the city by 2011. |
| Mayor's warning | |
| The flooding could reach as high as 1.66m above sea level by noon (1100 GMT), Venice's Centro Maree, which monitors water levels, warned on Monday. | |
| Venice's famous St Mark's Square has suffered from floods in the past | |
| St Mark's Square and the rest of the city's historic centre were already submerged under almost a metre of water by late morning on Monday. | |
| The monitoring centre said the tide was being pushed by strong winds. | |
| Mayor Massimo Cacciari urged residents to stay at home, and warned tourists thinking of coming to Venice to "think again", Italy's Ansa news agency reported. | |
| The last time the waters passed 1.6m was in 1979, when they reached 1.66m. | |
| In 1966, some 5,000 people in Venice were left homeless after an even higher flood hit the city. | |
| Are you in Venice? Have you been caught out by the flooding? Send us your pictures. | Are you in Venice? Have you been caught out by the flooding? Send us your pictures. |
| Send your pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk. If you have a large file you can upload here. href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/2780295.stm#yourpics">Read the terms and conditions | |
| At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. | At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. |