ROME, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Recent high water levels on the River Tiber that runs through the heart of Rome reminded locals of a long history of flooding in the city -- often with disastrous consequences. But experts say a series of precautions make it unlikely that Italy's capital will ever again see the enormous floods that had plagued the city over the centuries.

The River Tiber is an integral part of Rome's history: legend has it that the city's founders, infant twins Romulus and Remus, were found in a box on the riverbank in the 8th century B.C., for example. Access to the city via the river was a key factor in the city's early economic and military growth.

But the river has also punished the city for the umpteenth time. There are more than 120 plaques on walls around Rome to illustrate how high the waters rose during different floods, sometimes reaching more than four meters above street level. Where the Tiber passes through the city's historic center there stands a single arch of an ancient stone bridge now called Ponte Rotto -- Italian for Broken Bridge -- that was damaged by floods many times before it definitively collapsed.

Heavy rains at the start of 2021 brought water levels on the river to eye-catching levels, by some measures the highest since 2008. Water broke above the Tiber's lower banks and approached the bellies of some of the city's bridges. The boat-shaped Tiber Island, the only island within the city limits, appeared to be sinking into the river's muddy waters.

But according to Carmelo Tulumello, director of the Civil Protection Agency for Lazio, the region that includes Rome, thanks to engineering solutions the city has put into place in recent years, the high water levels would not pose a grave risk.

"The flood risks of today are much lower than those of the past," Tulumello told Xinhua. "The high water can seem dramatic, but we could see far more rain and the water would never really threaten the city today. We can make sure it does not reach levels that would cause big problems."

Tulumello said the rainfall in Rome is not the main factor determining the level of the water in the Tiber. Much more important, he said, is the rain falling upriver in the central Italian region of Umbria, and to a lesser extent in Tuscany, even more upriver. There, the tributaries flow into the Tiber and send water rushing toward the coast.

The artificial Lake Corbara, covering more than ten square kilometers, is the biggest safeguard, Tulumello said. Officials from Lazio and Umbria signed an agreement in 2020 to allow the lake to be used to siphon off water from the Tiber before it can get to Rome and cause problems. Other factors: digging out the delta where the Tiber spills into the Mediterranean Sea near the coastal city of Fiumicino assures that water passes through Rome quickly.

Tulumello said that earlier this month water levels reached 10.5 meters above sea level, just short of the point that could result in the closure of some streets and could cause problems with outdoor lighting. The water levels have since subsided to nearly normal levels, though with the rainy season in Lazio stretching from September to March each year, water levels could rise again.

The high water levels seen in December 2008 -- the last time the Tiber rose to levels demonstrably higher than this year -- were the most severe the city had seen since the 1960s, reaching around 12 meters above sea level. But the Tiber has not burst its upper banks since 1937 and the city hasn't been flooded since 1870.

The floods of 1530 and 1598 were among the worst on record, rising an estimated 20 meters above sea level, flooding vast areas of the city, severely damaging buildings and leaving dozens dead. Enditem

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