Scientists Find Fingerprints Of Climate Change On Wayanad Landslides
NDTV
The team of 24 researchers from India, Sweden, the US and the UK said that more than 140 mm of rainfall fell in a single day on soils highly saturated by two months of monsoon precipitation, triggering catastrophic landslides and floods that killed at least 231 people in Wayanad.
The deadly landslides in Kerala's ecologically fragile Wayanad district were triggered by a heavy burst of rainfall, made 10 per cent heavier by climate change, according to a new rapid attribution study by a global team of scientists.
The team of 24 researchers from India, Sweden, the US and the UK said that more than 140 mm of rainfall fell in a single day on soils highly saturated by two months of monsoon precipitation, triggering catastrophic landslides and floods that killed at least 231 people in Wayanad.
"The rainfall that triggered the landslides occurred in a region of Wayanad that has the highest landslide risk in the state. Even heavier downpours are expected as the climate warms, which underscores the urgency to prepare for similar landslides in northern Kerala," Maja Vahlberg, a climate risk consultant at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, said.
