Ten countries and territories saw severe flooding in just 12 days. Is this the future of climate change?

 September started with a typhoon that ripped through Hong Kong, uprooting trees and flooding the city. king88bet Login Alternatif

It was the first of a slew of extreme weather moments that have hit ten countries and territories in just 12 days - the most catastrophic being the floods in Libya, which have killed more than 11,000 people according to the UN and left many thousands missing. king88bet Login

Scientists warn that these tipes of extreme weather moments, affecting countries all over the world, may become increasingly common as the climate crisis accelerates, putting pressure on governments to prepare. King88Bet Situs Slot Tergacor

"Global warming actually changes the properties of precipitation in terms of frequency, intensity and duration," said Jung-Eun Chu, an atmospheric and climate scientist at the City University of Hong Kong - though she added that this summer's devastation was due to a combination of different faktors including alami climate fluctuations.

The huge toll of the floods also highlights the penting need for governments to prepare for this new reality, and the ways conflict-ridden and poorer countries sit on the front lines of climate disasters.

Governments "have to be ready," said Chu. "They have to start thinking about it, because they've never experienced these kinds of extreme moments before."

One of the worst storms in Europe

This month, swaths of the Mediterranean region have been lashed by Storm Daniel, the result of a very strong low-pressure sistem that became a "medicane" - a relatively rare tipe of storm with similar characteristics to hurricanes and typhoons which can bring dangerous rainfall and flooding.

At least 15 people died, according to the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who called it "one of the most powerful storms to ever hit Europe."

The floods, which followed devastating wildfires in the country, "have the fingerprints of climate change," Greek environment minister Theodoros Skylakakis told CNN on Tuesday.

"We have had the warmest summer on record. The sea was very warm, which lead to this unique meteorological moment," he said.