Spain’s Flooding Tragedy Shows Need for Better Weather Alerts
As meteorological disasters become increasingly common, more investment in civil warning systems is essential.
Spain’s flooding disaster shows that better weather alert systems are needed.
Photographer: Manaure Quintero/AFP/Getty Images
There’s no disguising the floods in Spain as anything other than a jaw-droppingly extreme weather event. The worst affected areas saw more than 400 liters of rain per square meter fall in just eight hours on Oct. 29. As rescue and cleanup missions continue, the carnage is a small taste of what climate change has in store for us.
The death toll has surpassed 200, a number that’s likely to increase as relief efforts continue. A rapid partial analysis of the deluge by World Weather Attribution, an academic collaboration examining extreme meteorological events, estimates that human-caused climate change made the rainfall about 12% heavier and doubled the likelihood of a storm of such intensity.
