Fake news around extreme weather events is causing confusion - Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Robin Campbell, Rosebarn Lane, Exeter.

With so much fake news around and with media outlets tending to over-dramatise things, people reasonably ask if weather disasters, like the extreme rainfall events this year in Spain, are really down to climate change. After all, Spain has always had floods.

When I see such catastrophes in the news, I head to the World Weather Attribution website for a more balanced analysis of the situation. There you will find a preliminary report that shows the link between climate change and the Valencia floods.

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You will also find an analysis of recent catastrophic floods in Sudan, Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon this year when more than 2000 people lost their lives and millions were displaced.

A big screen shows a message in memory of the victims of the Valencia floods ahead of the UEFA Europa Conference League match at Stamford Bridge. PIC: John Walton/PA WireA big screen shows a message in memory of the victims of the Valencia floods ahead of the UEFA Europa Conference League match at Stamford Bridge. PIC: John Walton/PA Wire
A big screen shows a message in memory of the victims of the Valencia floods ahead of the UEFA Europa Conference League match at Stamford Bridge. PIC: John Walton/PA Wire

Such deluges are now happening more frequently and with higher intensity due to climate change. Sadly, you will see that there are other contributing factors such as conflict, poverty and water management issues. The situation is predicted to get worse as temperatures rise further.

These are complex matters and the poor and vulnerable always pay the heaviest price. But if you look at the case studies done by the World Weather Attribution teams, it’s clear that climate change is a major factor in many events. Most of the extreme weather events that plague communities across the world, more than 25 so far this year, are hardly reported here.

Today’s world is globally connected and that won’t change, so we would be very foolish to think that disasters in far off places don’t have an impact here.

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