let's talk to alan johnston and has been covering this from rome. what are you hearing there? >> this is a kind of year when dennis knows it must brace for flooding. this is a time of year for these weeks in autumn, where large, high tide surges through the city on occasion quite commonly. but what we have seen over the last 24 hours has been something extraordinary. the six highest tides since records began back about 130 years ago. at one point, as he said, 70% of venice was under water yesterday. strong, southerly winds coming up the adriatic, driving mass of water into venice's lagoon. and torrential rain across a large swath of northern italy, into the rivers that feed into the lagoon as well. i have to say, though, fortunately in the course -- the very high tide that has been predicted has proved to be a lot less serious than people feared, , and this morning the latest reports art that only about 5% of venice has been flooded in the course of the morning. >> we have often seen the square foot, people walking through with wellington boots. how prepared of the people of v