Really devastating news all over spain as floods kill at least 95 people, as rescuers continue with rescue mission in the flooded fields and stranded cars for those still missing.
What is most disturbing is that the death toll is likely to rise. This according to Defence Minister Margarita Robles.
The most hurting news is that climate change has played a major part in this catastrophe. Speaking on BBC Radio 4 climatologist Friederike Otto says that these floods were worsened by the adverse climate change effects.
Otto says that climate change adds extra water, sometimes between 10 to 20%, to these flooding events and "that can make a huge difference in terms of damages".
"Of course there have been floods before and also other extreme weather events - but what we see in more recent years, ever stronger, is that many of these extreme weather events are more intense than they would have been without climate change."
Otto says there have been a lot of floods this year, similar to the ones we're now seeing in Spain, where "a lot of rain comes down in a relatively short time which makes it hard for people to get out of harm’s way".
"We know from very basic physics that a warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapour, and that needs to get out of the atmosphere and it does that in particularly heavy bursts of rainfall."
As I send my heartfelt condolences to the families of our beloved families affected in Spain ,I also appeal to all to highten climate action to aid in reducing this climate change impacts.
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It feels so bad when innocent lives are lost due to our negligence..we need to find ways of dealing with climate change sooner.
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5 w
This is so devastating. This serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need for effective flood management and disaster preparedness measures. It is imperative for authorities to prioritize and invest in comprehensive strategies to mitigate the impact of such natural disasters in the future.
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This is incredibly devastating news !
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This is a heartbreaking situation
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To address flooding in Spain, a mix of infrastructure, environmental, and policy measures should be implemented to manage water flow, improve resilience, and reduce risks for communities and ecosystems.