Climate change intensified rain that caused Wayanad landslides: study

Human-caused climate change intensified heavy rain, triggering deadly landslides in Wayanad, the World Weather Attribution group has found.

Heavy rain made about 10% stronger by human-caused climate change triggered the landslides that killed more than 200 people in India’s southern state of Kerala last month, a team of international scientists has concluded.

The landslides on July 30 in the coastal state’s Wayanad region were its worst disaster since 2018, when floods killed more than 400 people.

The study, released on Wednesday by the World Weather Attribution group, which examines the role of climate change in extreme weather, found that single-day monsoon downpours in Wayanad have become 10% heavier because of climate change.

Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had blamed unexpectedly heavy rainfall for the casualties, saying the region received 572 mm of rain over the preceding 48 hours, more than double the 204 mm forecast.

One-day bursts of rain in Kerala will become another 4% heavier if the world does not move away from fossil fuels and global warming reaches 2º C, the study said.

“The increase in climate change-driven rainfall found in this study is likely to increase the potential number of landslides that could be triggered in the future,” it said.

Minimising deforestation and quarrying, reinforcing susceptible slopes, and building retaining structures to protect vulnerable areas were some of the other measures it recommended to prevent similar disasters in future.