London, 24 August 2021 (TDI): According to a new report by the scientists of World Weather Attribution (WWA), the severe floods in Germany and Belgium that took more than 200 lives in July were made 9 times more probable by climate change due to human activity.
Climate change has also caused an increase in the intensity of the rain by 3-19%, compared to a climate that is 1.2 °C cooler. According to the report, the evidence suggests “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 report was authored by various scientists from Germany, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, France, and the US under WWA. They used different models to estimate the effect of warm temperatures on precipitation in the affected regions for one or two days. The findings showed that in the flood-beaten river Ahr in Germany, floods were estimated to be a “500-year event.” In the current trajectory, such events could become even more frequent.
The report gives a broad insight to policymakers to work towards decreasing the vulnerability of such events and their results. Policies that put the climate change agenda at the heart of future projects can become a percent to reduce such disasters in the future.