Climate change is already making floods and storms more damaging. And as the world continues to warm, those impacts will become even more severe, according to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The report, released Monday, is the first of its kind to document how climate change is making extreme weather events more damaging. And it found that the impacts of floods and storms have increased significantly since the 1980s.
The report looked at data from 10,000 floods and 5,000 storms across the United States. And it found that the damage from those events has increased by about 50 percent since 1980.
The increase in damage is due to a number of factors, including more people living in coastal areas, more development in flood-prone areas, and the fact that storms are now more likely to occur during high tide.
But the biggest factor by far is the fact that the world is now 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it was in preindustrial times. That may not sound like much, but it has made a big difference in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events.
As the world continues to warm, the impacts of floods and storms will become even more severe. That means more damage to property and infrastructure, and more loss of life.
The good news is that we can take steps to reduce the risks posed by climate change. That includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions, preparing for extreme weather events, and making our communities more resilient to the impacts of climate change.
https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/noaa-releases-first-ever-report-documenting-how-climate-change-is-making-extreme
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/08/24/climate-change-flooding-storms/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/24/climate/climate-change-flooding-storms.html