In Bosanska Krupa, the highest river water levels in the history of the town have been recorded. The authorities are no longer able to determine the exact number of flooded buildings.
The Mayor, Armin Halitovic, stated that the “situation has never been more severe, and the precise number of flooded structures and evacuated residents is now unknown”.
The situation remains challenging due to incessant heavy rainfall, which has led to elevated water levels, water spillover from riverbeds, flooding of numerous buildings, disrupted roadways and the triggering of landslides.
The border crossings of Kostajnica and Kozarska Dubica are not operational due to flooding in Croatia, and crossing from Novi Grad to Dvor na Uni is also not advised according to the Auto-Moto Association of Republika Srpska, Bosnia’s other entity, where the situation is also dire.
“Climate change is here and we are living the consequences. It isn’t some remote prospect, it is the new normal,” Paola Pino d’Astore, an expert at the Italian Society of Environmental Geology (SIGEA), told Reuters.
Experts say Italy’s geography makes it particularly vulnerable to climate disasters: its varied geology make it prone to floods and landslides, while rapidly warming seas either side make it vulnerable to increasingly powerful storms, amid rising temperatures.
The frontlines of the climate crisis have hitherto been in the global south, leading to the oft-repeated refrain that those least responsible for the climate crisis are facing the worst effects. But for Italy now, and probably soon the rest of Europe, the enemy is at the gates.
Last August, a weather station near Syracuse on the southern island of Sicily recorded 48.8C, which is thought to be the highest temperature ever measured in Europe. While the world fights a losing battle to keep the increase in global average temperatures below 1.5C, in Italy average temperatures over the past 10 years are already 2.1C higher than in pre-industrial times.
Coldiretti, a national farmers’ group, says the number of extreme weather events recorded last summer, including tornadoes, giant hail stones and lightning strikes, was five times the number registered a decade ago. And, like in many parts of the world already feeling the impacts of climate breakdown, it is farmers suffering the most: last year’s severe drought caused crop yields to fall by up to 45%.
Adaption will be easy peasy. Nah, it won't; just kidding.
