Climate change made catastrophic European floods more likely and more intense, study finds

One of the worst disasters in a summer full of extreme weather events — the Western European flooding in July — was made significantly more likely and more intense due to the impact of human-caused climate change, new research shows. More than 200 people lost their lives when rivers overflowed and roared through towns in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, washing away structures that had been standing for hundreds of years. 

A Belgian government minister described the flood as "one of the greatest natural disasters our country has ever known." As much as two months' worth of rainfall fell in just two days, with some locations picking up nearly 8 inches. The new study from a team of international scientists at World Weather Attribution has found that the European flooding event — even in today's heated climate — would only be expected to occur once every 400 years in that part of the world. The study also found that the flood event was between 1.2 times and 9 times more likely than it would have been without climate change, and our warmer climate made it up to 19% more intense.