Friday, July 16, 2021

Flooding in Germany, Belgium kills over 125: Where it is, why it's happening and what to know


The fossil fuel executives who suppressed evidence for the fact that the use of fossil fuels is causing an increase in greenhouse gases, and thus an increase in extreme weather events, are mass murderers. And they are still working to slow the switch away from fossil fuels, for the sake of maintaining huge incomes for themselves.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/07/16/germany-flooding-110-dead-thousands-homeless-raging-flash-floods/7988858002/

Sarah Elbeshbishi

July 16, 2021

 

Flooding in west Germany and Belgium has killed over 125 people, with hundreds more missing and thousands now homeless.

Days of heavy rain turned streams and streets into torrents, sweeping away cars and causing houses to collapse with families stuck inside.

Some parts of Western Europe ... received up to two months of rainfall in the space of two days. What made it worse is that the soils were already saturated by previous rainfall,” World Meteorological Organization spokesperson Clare Nullis said.


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Residents of Erftstadt, a German town southwest of Cologne, were also trapped in their homes after aerial photos showed what appeared to be a huge landslide at a gravel pit.

Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland have also seen rivers swell under heavy rains.

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Nullis said it was too soon to blame the flooding and the preceding heat wave on global warming, but she did say that “climate change is already increasing the frequency of extreme events. And many single events have been shown to be made worse by global warming.”

Steinmeier blamed climate change for the flooding, calling for greater efforts to combat global warming.

“Only if we decisively take up the fight against climate change will we be able to limit the extreme weather conditions we are now experiencing,” Steinmeier said.

Experts also said that climate change could cause similar disasters to become more frequent.

Malu Dreyer, the governor of Rhineland-Palatinate state, said the disaster showed the need to speed up efforts to curb global warming.

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