Last week, analysts at First Street, a financial research firm in Manhattan that models the future of property values in a climate-damaged world, issued a report suggesting that home values in…Continue readingLetter to the Sun Belt
Tag: floods
The home-wrecking storms and floods that swept Europe last year affected 413,000 people, a report has found, as fossil fuel pollution forced the continent to suffer through its hottest year on…Continue readingDeadly floods and storms affected more than 400,000 people in Europe in 2024
In a study published in One Earth, scientists report that, for the highly populated coastal country of Bangladesh, what was once a 100-year event could now strike every 10 years—or more…Continue readingHundred-year storm tides to hit Bangladesh every decade as climate change intensifies, scientists report
A National Science and Technology Council and Ministry of Environment report projected that Taiwan could stop experiencing winters by 2060 due to climate change. Taiwan summers could extend to over 150…Continue readingClimate change could erase winters in Taiwan by 2060
Today, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published its annual State of the Climate report, which found heat records kept being broken in 2024. It’s likely 2024 was the first year to…Continue readingSahara flooding, Amazon tributaries drying, warming tipping over 1.5°C—2024 broke all the wrong records
The WMO’s report on 2024, the hottest year on record, sets out a trail of destruction from extreme weather that took lives, demolished buildings and ravaged vital crops. More than 800,000…Continue readingMore than 150 ‘unprecedented’ climate disasters struck world in 2024, says UN
Water is vital to a city’s growth and stability and is the backbone to healthy societies. But the threat of too much or too little water puts everything at risk. Right…Continue readingWater and climate: Rising risks for urban populations
Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes.…Continue reading13 die in Argentina after 1 year’s worth of rain falls in 8 hours
As Arctic ice melts, massive amounts of freshwater flow into the ocean. The seawater becomes diluted and less saline, a development that reduces its density and causes it to sink more…Continue readingLong-term costs of global warming: Weaker ocean circulation could cost trillions
A collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) would have disastrous consequences around the world, severely disrupting the rains that billions of people depend on for food in India, South…Continue readingTotal collapse of vital Atlantic currents unlikely this century, study finds
Dramatic rainstorms earlier this month brought more than 6in of rain to the California mountains – a full month’s worth of rain in little more than a day – but the…Continue readingCalifornia faces worsening drought despite recent heavy rainstorms
Residents of parts of Townsville and nearby towns spent the night in shelters as rising flood waters inundated their homes. In some places, more than 1 metre of rain fell during…Continue readingOne metre of rain in 48 hours: flooding to continue in north Queensland with thousands of homes at risk
The UK is not prepared for the impact of climate breakdown, fire chiefs have said, as they called on the government to take urgent action to protect communities. It said fire…Continue readingFire chiefs warn UK is not prepared for climate crisis impacts
Extreme weather disrupted the schooling of about 242 million children in 85 countries last year—roughly one in seven students, the UN children’s agency reported Thursday, deploring an “overlooked” aspect of the…Continue reading242 million children’s schooling disrupted by climate shocks in 2024: UNICEF
A growing number of homeowners nationwide are being dropped by insurance companies as firms and regulators struggle to deal with the unpredictable and costly risks of climate disasters. Nonrenewal notices surged…Continue readingCalifornia isn’t the only place where insurers are dropping homeowners
Tropical storm Dikeledi barreled towards Mozambique on Monday after leaving three dead in Madagascar and triggering floods in the French territory of Mayotte, less than a month after the cyclone-battered region…Continue readingCyclone-battered region sees storm Dikeledi leave Mayotte for Mozambique
The 2024 Global Water Monitor Report was produced by an international team of researchers from universities in Australia, Saudi Arabia, China, Germany and elsewhere. The team used data from thousands of…Continue readingClimate crisis ‘wreaking havoc’ on Earth’s water cycle
Thirteen of the ports with the highest supertanker traffic will be seriously damaged by just 1 metre of sea level rise, the analysis found. The researchers said two low-lying ports in…Continue reading‘Ironic’: climate-driven sea level rise will overwhelm major oil ports
The increasing speed of sea level rise hardly seems to register with policymakers in Britain – even though with the UK weather getting more violent, destructive storm surges are increasingly likely.…Continue readingWeatherwatch: The need to wake up to sea level rise in the UK
By David Spratt at Climate Code Red If an unexpected leap in the global average temperature in 2023 was described by one scientist as “gobsmackingly bananas”, are there even words to…Continue readingA(nother) year of scientific shock and awe
The world has endured a “decade of deadly heat”, with 2024 capping 10 years of unprecedented temperatures, the UN has said. The UN’s climate and weather agency, the World Meteorological Organisation…Continue readingWorld endures ‘decade of deadly heat’ as 2024 caps hottest years on record
Cyclone Chido was an “intense tropical cyclone”, equivalent to a category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic. It made landfall in Mayotte, a small island lying to the north-west of Madagascar on…Continue readingClimate, migration and conflict mix to create ‘deadly’ intense tropical storms like Chido
Rescuers in Spain are battling to reach areas still cut off due to heavy rains as the death toll from catastrophic floods rose to 205 in Europe’s worst weather disaster in…Continue readingDeath toll from Spain floods passes 200
Human-caused climate change worsened floods that have killed hundreds of people and displaced millions in Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan this year, according to a study published on Wednesday. A…Continue readingClimate change worsened deadly Africa floods
The World Weather Attribution (WWA) network said on Wednesday that human-driven climate change, caused by the use of fossil fuels, had made seasonal downpours across the Niger and Lake Chad basins…Continue readingGlobal warming worsening deadly flooding in Africa
Five Pacific nations on Thursday plotted how to prosecute a pivotal UN court case that aims to hold climate-polluting countries to account and safeguard their islands’ survival. The International Court of…Continue readingClimate-hit Pacific Islands plot landmark UN court case
A few weeks on from the flooding of 19 September, when the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna was struck by its third devastating storm in less than 18 months, the…Continue reading‘It’s shameful and I won’t pay it’: flood-hit Italians rage against insurance call
More than half the world’s food production will be at risk of failure within the next 25 years as a rapidly accelerating water crisis grips the planet, unless urgent action is…Continue readingGlobal water crisis leaves half of world food production at risk in next 25 years
Studies have found that, across the world, extreme rainfall has become more common and intense due to climate change; there is a high degree of confidence that such is the case…Continue readingHurricane Helene’s reach was shocking, another example of how climate change ‘is here and now,’ scientists say
Rivers dried up at the highest rate in three decades in 2023, putting global water supply at risk, data has shown. Over the past five years, there have been lower-than-average river…Continue readingClimate warning as world’s rivers dry up at fastest rate for 30 years
Hurricane Helene’s death toll has surpassed 150 as searchers use helicopters to get past washed-out bridges and hike through wilderness to reach isolated homes. Crews were still trudging through knee-deep muck…Continue readingMore than 150 dead after Hurricane Helene dumps over 40tn gallons of rain
Hurricane Helene caused deadly and destructive flooding when it swept through the Southeast on Sept. 26–29, 2024. Across a broad swath of western North Carolina, where the worst flooding occurred, the…Continue readingWhy are so many historically rare storms hitting the Carolinas?
Residents of Nepal’s flood-hit capital returned to their mud-caked homes on Sunday to survey the wreckage of devastating floods that have killed at least 104 people across the Himalayan republic. Deadly…Continue reading104 dead in Nepal floods after relentless monsoon rains
Climate change is dramatically reshaping life in Pacific Island nations, leaving them ever more vulnerable to storm surges, saltwater contamination, ruined crops, and relentless coastal erosion. “Every day it’s a constant…Continue readingStay or go? Pacific Islanders face climate’s grim choice
Flooding caused travel disruption, closed schools and submerged homes in central and southern England on Monday after more than a month’s worth of rain fell in 24 hours in some areas.…Continue readingFlooding causes chaos after month’s rain falls in a day in parts of England
The Czech Republic sat at the centre of a storm that has killed two dozen people across central Europe and prompted the EU to promise €10bn in aid to flood-stricken countries.…Continue reading‘We’re getting rid of everything’: floods destroy homes and lives in Czech Republic
Since taking office in 2022, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has spent about half a trillion dollars to address persistent flooding from extreme weather in the Philippines. But despite the significant spending,…Continue readingBattered by typhoons: Why aren’t Philippine flood control projects working?
Two people are missing and about 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes after devastating floods and landslides hit the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, prompting accusations that Giorgia Meloni’s…Continue readingTwo missing and 1,000 evacuated as Storm Boris devastates northern Italy
More than five times the average rainfall for the whole of September has fallen in five days on swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, triggering devastating…Continue readingFloods in Poland and wildfires in Portugal show reality of climate breakdown, says EU
Across Yemen in recent weeks, nearly 100 people have died in floods. And more than 560,000 people across the country have been affected since late July. Yemen’s central highlands, Red Sea…Continue reading‘Staggering’ destruction in Yemen after deadly flash flooding
Parts of Central and West Africa have seen heavy flooding over an unusually intense rainy season, unleashing a humanitarian crisis in which hundreds have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.…Continue readingFloods hit millions in West and Central Africa
The 11th Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research conference was held in Pucón, Chile August 19-23, 2024. Fifteen-hundred academics, researchers, and scientists specializing in Antarctica met to share cutting-edge research. Reports at…Continue readingAntarctica’s Deep Vulnerability Exposed at 11th Scientific Conference
A new study from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering researchers, along with researchers from the Institute de Physique du Globe de Paris at the University of Paris Cité, has found…Continue readingDeserts’ biggest threat? Flooding
A climate assessment report published in November 2022 by the Centre for Science and Environment, a public-interest research and advocacy organization based in New Delhi, analysed the first nine months of…Continue readingThe climate disaster strikes: what the data say
The time has come to accept that climate policy has failed, and that the 2015 landmark Paris agreement is dead. We let it die by pretending that we could both continue…Continue readingThe overshoot myth: you can’t keep burning fossil fuels and expect scientists of the future to get us back to 1.5°C
A world where global mean surface temperature has increased 3°C will be characterized by widespread and intense heat stress, extreme weather events, ruptured and unproductive marine and terrestrial ecosystems, broken food…Continue readingEarth at risk: An urgent call to end the age of destruction and forge a just & sustainable future
Halfway through the peak flood season, China has already experienced the highest number of significant floods since record keeping began in 1998, and the hottest July since 1961, authorities said on…Continue readingChina sees highest number of significant floods since records began
Torrential rains in China have killed at least 30 people and left dozens more missing, state media said Thursday, as the country grinds through another summer of extreme weather. Confirmation of…Continue reading30 dead, dozens missing after torrential rain in central China
Thunderstorms and torrential rain brought another wave of violent floods Tuesday that caved in roads, crushed vehicles, pushed homes off their foundations and led to dramatic boat rescues in north-eastern Vermont,…Continue reading‘Apocalyptic’ floods in Vermont destroy homes as two dozen rescued by boat
Last week, a strong typhoon left a trail of destruction across the Philippines, Taiwan and China. Super Typhoon Gaemi began as a tropical storm but intensified rapidly, leaving at least 65…Continue readingManila is reeling after a super typhoon—we must prepare fast-growing megacities for worsening disasters
Central China’s Henan Province has become ground zero for an ongoing deluge of rain that has hit the area stretching from Sichuan Basin to Huanghuai region, with multiple parts of the…Continue readingRecord-breaking rainfalls hit cities in C.China’s Henan
Flash floods in northern and southwest China have killed at least 20 people and left dozens missing, state media said Saturday, after a week of deadly downpours across the country. Several…Continue readingFlash floods across China kill at least 20, dozens missing
Flash flooding and landslides swept away cars and houses, with at least one person known to have died, alongside widespread damage to transport infrastructure. Unsettled conditions persisted around the Alpine region…Continue readingHeavy rain in Switzerland and Italy causes flooding
A new and worrying way that large ice sheets can melt has been characterized by scientists for the first time. The research focuses on how relatively warm seawater can lap at…Continue readingNew tipping point discovered beneath the Antarctic ice sheet
Local sea level has risen about a foot in the last 80 years, with 8 inches of that total in the last 30 years, the Herald reported in May. The second…Continue readingRemember they said Miami would be under water? A preview of the future
Government scientists say rising seas driven by climate change are drowning Bangladesh’s densely populated coast at one of the fastest global rates, and at least a million people on the coast…Continue readingSea swamps Bangladesh at one of world’s fastest rates
Exposure to extreme weather events can make people more aware of environmental changes; however, it remains unclear how such events influence politicians’ behaviour. Combining supervised learning algorithms on over 260,000 press…Continue readingExtreme weather events do not increase political parties’ environmental attention
Bangladeshi weather experts said Tuesday that a deadly cyclone that carved a swath of destruction was one of the quickest-forming and longest-lasting they’d experienced, blaming climate change for the shift. Cyclone…Continue readingDeadly Bangladesh cyclone one of longest seen
Waves wash over abandoned homes in a Mexican village slowly being swallowed by the sea—a symbol of the climate change effects being felt by the major fossil fuel producer. The school…Continue readingSubmerged homes, heat waves fuel Mexico climate angst
The seemingly “never-ending” rain last autumn and winter in the UK and Ireland was made 10 times more likely and 20% wetter by human-caused global heating, a study has found. More…Continue reading‘Never-ending’ UK rain made 10 times more likely by climate crisis, study says
In the last 80 years, sea level rise has risen about a foot, with 8 inches of that total in the last 30 years, said Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate…Continue readingSea levels are starting to rise faster: Here’s how much South Florida is expecting
Hunger and disease are rising in Latin America after a year of record heat, floods and drought, a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has shown. The continent, which is…Continue readingDisease and hunger soar in Latin America after floods and drought, study finds
The largest ever recorded leap in the amount of carbon dioxide laden in the world’s atmosphere has just occurred, according to researchers who monitor the relentless accumulation of the primary gas…Continue readingRecord-breaking increase in CO2 levels in world’s atmosphere
Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5˚C (4.5˚F) above preindustrial levels this century. Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative…Continue readingWorld’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5˚C target
The climate emergency is already here. Even just 1˚C of heating has supercharged the planet’s extreme weather, delivering searing heatwaves from the US to Europe to China that would have been…Continue reading‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair
Pakistan has experienced its “wettest April since 1961”, receiving more than twice as much rain as usual for the month, the country’s weather agency has said. April rainfall was recorded at…Continue readingPakistan records ‘wettest April’ in more than 60 years
Overpowering floods and mudslides caused by torrential rains are continuing to sweep southern Brazil, killing at least 56 people and forcing tens of thousands out of their homes, the government said.…Continue reading‘It’s going to be worse’: Brazil braces for more pain amid record flooding
California in North America has ended up being at the frontline of the climate crisis in recent years, lurching between extreme drought and excessive rain. To understand what might have triggered…Continue readingWhat’s driving California’s extreme weather?
At least 65 people have died in storm-related incidents including lightning in Pakistan, officials said, with rain so far in April falling at nearly twice the historical average rate. “In April,…Continue readingLightning, downpours kill 65 in Pakistan, as April rain doubles historical average
Huge tailbacks snaked along six-lane expressways after up to 254 millimeters of rain—about two years’ worth—fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday. The storms hit the UAE and Bahrain…Continue readingDubai reels from floods chaos after record rains
A skeleton lies exposed to the elements as turquoise Caribbean waters lap the shores near a shattered tomb—a grisly reminder that the Colombian city of Cartagena is slowly being swallowed by…Continue readingColombia’s Caribbean jewel slowly sinking as sea waters rise
AMOC, which encompasses part of the Gulf Stream and other powerful currents, is a marine conveyer belt that carries heat, carbon and nutrients from the tropics towards the Arctic Circle, where…Continue readingAtlantic Ocean circulation nearing ‘devastating’ tipping point
Located in West Bengal state in eastern India and neighbouring Bangladesh, the Sundarbans forest system is a cluster of low-lying islands and represents the largest mangrove ecosystem in the world. It…Continue readingThe Sundarbans dilemma: Islands swallowed by water, and nowhere else to go
“Chronic arsenic poisoning from drinking water … is a real problem, not a theoretical exercise,” said the lead researcher, Dr Seth Frisbie, an emeritus professor of chemistry at Norwich University, in…Continue readingClimate crisis to increase cancer risk for tens of millions of people in Bangladesh
The U.S., Mexico and countries in the Caribbean are being battered by hurricane-induced ocean waves that have grown in areal size by 80% over the past 40 years, a new study…Continue readingHurricane waves hitting Americas grow 20% per decade
How the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) responded to warmer climates in the geologic past has obvious relevance to our understanding of what its future could be as global temperatures rise…Continue readingIce sheet collapse closer than thought
More than two million people across the Horn of Africa have been forced from their homes by torrential rains and floods, according to an AFP tally compiled Thursday from government and…Continue readingHorn of Africa floods displace more than two million
Haiyan was one of the strongest typhoons ever to make landfall. More than 6,300 people were killed as the storm swept across the island of Leyte, flattening homes and causing a…Continue reading10 years after Haiyan, are mangroves protecting Philippine coastal areas?
Cyclone Freddy lasted a record 38 days. The storm barrelled 5,000 miles across the Indian Ocean, pummelling Madagascar and Reunion before striking the African mainland. It swirled over southern Mozambique and…Continue readingAfter the Storm, Malawi’s Farmers Face a Precarious Future
Extreme drought in northern Italy has doubled over the past two decades, creating a climate that increasingly mirrors that of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. The southern Shabelle region of…Continue readingExtreme drought in northern Italy mirrors climate in Ethiopia
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the world Monday to “stop the madness” of climate change as he visited Himalayan regions struggling from rapidly melting glaciers to witness the devastating impact of…Continue readingUN chief urges world to ‘stop the madness’ of climate change
More than 4,000 of England’s vital flood defences are so damaged they are almost useless, including hundreds in areas battered by Storm Babet. An analysis of Environment Agency data obtained by…Continue readingMore than 4,000 English flood defences ‘almost useless’
By Christoper Ketcham The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has assumed Nordhaus is to be trusted. The integrated assessment models used at the IPCC are based on Nordhausian visions of adaptation…Continue readingWhen Idiot Savants Do Climate Economics
Earth’s vital signs have worsened beyond anything humans have yet seen, to the point that life on the planet is imperiled. William Ripple, a distinguished professor in the Oregon State University…Continue readingClimate report: ‘Uncharted territory’ imperils life on Earth
Accelerated ice melt in west Antarctica is inevitable for the rest of the century no matter how much carbon emissions are cut, research indicates. The implications for sea level rise are…Continue readingRapid ice melt in west Antarctica now inevitable
New York City and its adjoining areas have been brought to a standstill after a bout of torrential downpours triggered flash flooding, disrupting subway service, inundating ground-level apartments and delaying flights.…Continue readingFlash flooding inundates New York City
After the northern summer of extreme heat and disastrous fires, we’ve seen more exceptional autumn weather over Europe with record-breaking heat in the UK. Meanwhile, record-breaking rain and intense flash floods…Continue readingFaster disaster: Climate change fuels ‘flash droughts’, intense downpours and storms
Most coastal communities will encounter 100-year floods annually by the end of the century, even under a moderate scenario where carbon dioxide emissions peak by 2040, a new study finds. And…Continue readingCentury’s end may bring annual 100-year floods
Between January and August, the United States was struck by a record-breaking 23 weather and climate disasters where losses exceeded $1 billion in each case. The tally for 2023 has already…Continue readingUS hit by record number of billion-dollar disasters so far this year