Devastating floods in Italy claim lives and leave thousands homeless
GuardianMay 17, 2023
As of Thursday, at least 13 people have been killed and 20K displaced as Italy experiences its worst flooding in nearly a century.
Torrential rain in Italy's northern Emilia-Romagna region has triggered floods and landslides, with some regions having received half their average annual rainfall in only 36 hours, leading rivers to burst their banks and flood surrounding towns and farmland.
Italy is a country that is particularly vulnerable to climate change, and these recent extreme weather events go to show just how deadly the effects of global warming are. These extreme weather events are just going to get worse, and the government needs to step up and prepare for them.
While the impacts of these floods are tragic, there's no evidence that climate change is to blame, as these types of catastrophes are usually influenced by a myriad of factors that have nothing to do with it. More research is needed before we can establish any direct causal link between the two.
There's a 50% chance that the total damage incurred by climate change during the 21st century will be at least 8.84% of world GDP, according to the Metaculus prediction community.