Italy’s Venice Battered by Heavy Rains, Flooding (Photos)

Heavy rains and widespread flooding hit Italy’s Venice on Tuesday, causing massive destruction, and devastation.

The heavy rainfalls forced officials to close schools in several cities including Taranto, Brindisi, and Matera, as well as the Sicilian cities of Pozzallo and Noto, according to the city's national weather service.

Moreover, hotels are offering their guests knee-high rubber boots so they can move regularly from one tourist attraction to another; sirens warned people in Venice of the rising water, and many nursery schools have been closed.

Social media users circulated videos featuring deep waters flowing like a river along one of Venice's main thoroughfares, while another showed large waves hammering boats moored alongside the Doge's Palace and surging over the stone sidewalks.

“Reuters News Agency” published a number of photos showing this miserable situation. Bad weather is continuing to hit Italy, with no real predicted forecast for several days.

Noteworthy, a wave of bad weather has hit Italian cities in recent days, resulting in heavy rains accompanied by strong winds of nearly 100 km / h.

The highest tide recorded in Venice was in 1966, when the water reached 6.3 feet. The city sits at between 3-4 feet.

Since 2003, a huge infrastructure project has been underway to protect the city, but it has been cursed by cost overruns, scandals and delays.