After an extreme storm devastated central Europe and brought deadly flooding to multiple countries earlier this month, millions of people remain at risk of disaster.
What's happening?
As explained by The Washington Post, countries in central Europe experienced record rainfall from an extreme storm named Boris that caused at least 12 deaths up until September 16: six in Romania, two in Poland, three in Austria, and one in the Czech Republic.
The storm "unleashed several months' worth of rain in just a few days," according to the outlet, and also caused extreme flooding and up to 10 feet of mountain snow.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala of the Czech Republic called it a "once-in-a-century flood." Police reported that seven people were missing in addition to the one confirmed death in the country.
Unfortunately, the Post noted that the "severe rainfall showed little signs of easing." Emergency services in the state of Upper Austria said that new, intense rainfall has caused water levels to rise. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said that the "situation remains serious," as he noted that almost the entire country experienced heavy rainfall or snowfall.
Why is this important?
According to the Post, "human-caused climate change probably intensified" the storm as it was brewing "by warming the air and the water that fed into the storm." A cold-air outbreak in western Europe clashed with significantly warm, moist air in the east and south, causing the storm to stall over the central part of the continent while drawing moisture from the Mediterranean Sea.
Also, WaPo noted that record levels of humidity across the planet over the summer likely contributed to the heavy rainfall. Earth's ongoing warming leads to more erratic rain patterns and rising sea levels, which thereby causes the increased frequency and intensity of extreme storms and floods around the world.
For example, almost 3 million people in Bangladesh were left stranded, and at least two people died after fierce flooding from monsoon rains in late August. Instances like these illustrate the devastating effects climate change can have on natural weather events.
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What's being done about this?
Per the Associated Press, European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen pledged billions of euros in aid from the EU's solidarity fund, which includes €10 billion ($11 billion) from the cohesion fund, to help repair the damage to infrastructure and housing in the affected countries in central Europe. To illustrate the urgency of the matter, von der Leyen added that the money would be released without the requirement of co-financing from any of the countries.
"Here we say it's 100% European money, no co-financing," von der Leyen said. "These are extraordinary times, and extraordinary times need extraordinary measures."
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