Frankfurt: Climate change increases the likelihood of extreme rainfall and thus of flooding events like the one that hit western Germany last month, according to a study published on Tuesday.
Given current climate conditions, it can be expected that a region in Western Europe could be hit by such a devastating event about once every 400 years, an international team which included scientists found out.
As mean temperatures continues to rise, extreme rain events become more frequent. If temperatures were to rise by another 0.8 degrees Celsius, the frequency would increases to every 300 years and the intensity of the heavy rain would also increase.
The scientists looked at a region encompassing France, western Germany, the eastern part of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and northern the North of Switzerland and asked how likely the entire area was to experience extreme heavy rain and to what extent this was influenced by rising temperatures around the world.
The likelihood of such disasters has increased by a factor of between 1.2 and 9 compared to the end of the 19th century, and the maximum amount of rain is between 3 and 19 per cent greater.
“All available evidence taken together (…) gives high confidence that human-induced climate change has increased the likelihood and intensity of such an event to occur and these changes will continue in a rapidly warming climate,” the authors wrote.
The study was carried out as part of the World Weather Attribution Initiative, which investigates the possible effects of climate change on extreme weather events.
Floods are natural phenomena, but climate change is altering Earth’s rainfall patterns, making some regions wetter and others drier.
Scientists say climate change is intensifying the risk of heavy rain around the world, because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.
According to an international study published Tuesday, climate change made the deadly floods that devastated parts of Germany and Belgium last month up to nine times more likely.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has declared a major disaster in the southern US state of Tennessee and approved federal funding after devastating floods over the weekend left at least 21 dead, the White House said in a statement said on Tuesday.
Tennessee was hit on Saturday by what meteorologists called historic storms and flooding, dumping as much as 17 inches (38 centimeters) of rain.
Rural roads, state highways, bridges and hundreds of homes were washed out and widespread power outages affected thousands of people.
The move makes federal funding available to people affected in Humphreys County, where the downpour on Saturday broke a 24-hour rainfall record for Tennessee, the National Weather Service said.
Help for residents includes “grants for temporary housing and home repairs”, as well as “low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses”, the White House said.
dva/jfx
