Climate change made north-west Europe’s lethal flood more likely

IN A YEAR scarred by one extreme weather event after the next, the question of how far climate change is to blame has continually come to the fore. On August 23rd a group of climate scientists issued its preliminary assessment of the role of climate change in the devastating floods that killed more than 220 people in Germany and Belgium last month. The researchers estimate that global warming has made such extraordinary rainfall up to nine times as likely as in the pre-industrial age.Between July 12th and 15th a slow-moving low-pressure system, named “Bernd” by meteorologists, poured heavy rain onto Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The images of widespread destruction served as a stark reminder that even the richest nations were unprepared for such unusual events.