Venice flooded by unusually high tide, third-highest ever for June

ROME  — A quarter of Venice has been submerged by a near-record high tide for June, a time of year when such flooding is rare.

The water level in Italy’s lagoon city reached as high as 3 feet, 9.7 inches late Thursday.

Venice’s sea monitoring agency blamed the unusually high late spring tide on a storm in the Atlantic that brought heavy winds and rain to northern Italy. Another unseasonably high tide is expected Friday night.

The highest June high tide was registered in 2002, when the water mark hit 47.6 inches, followed by 46 inches in June 2016.

Venice authorities on Friday didn’t put out pedestrian bridges, which are usually only used in the peak “acqua alta” season from September to April.

Venice and the rest of Italy are still closed to cruise ships, but Italy relaxed travel restrictions for Italians and most Europeans on Wednesday.