Once-in-a-Lifetime Floods Are Becoming Routine
Once rare deadly deluges are happening more frequently and causing more damage as the planet heats up.
An unusually warm Mediterranean helped fuel the rains inundating central Europe.
Photographer: Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images
Can a flood be called a thousand-year flood if it happens every five years?
That’s a question worth asking this week in the southern US, central Europe and central Africa after the latest round of biblical deluges that are becoming increasingly routine and destructive as the planet heats up. They’re reminders that climate change is no longer a problem for our grandchildren — unless those grandchildren happen to be living in our flooded basements. Regardless of location or economic development, we are ill-prepared for the consequences.