Heavy rainfall events are seemingly becoming common across the globe. From the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil to Texas, the Netherlands, Kenya, and Guangdong, China is breaking records for floodwaters, killing hundreds, and destroying infrastructure, including dams that collapse from the weight of additional water into their reservoirs, bridges, highways, potable water systems, and sewage treatment plants.
In Brazil, a hydroelectric dam partially collapsed, releasing torrents of water into an already dire situation in cities and rural areas flooded from days of rainfall. The southern state of Rio Grande do Sul has been submerged in heavy water for a few days from heavy rainfall, which killed 373; after the dam break, a 6.6-foot wall of water swept dozens of people from their homes, and they are missing and presumed dead. The dam is between Cotiporã and the city of Bento Gonçalves—the surge of whitewater in the Taquari River valley flooded entire cities like Lajeado and Estrela.
Families were recused from the rooftops of their flooded homes, and electricity, safe water, and the internet were all collateral damage in a desperate fight for survival on the ground. This is the fourth flooding event with landslides this year in the state. The water has yet to recede.
Weather across South America is affected by the climate phenomenon El Niño, a periodic, naturally occurring event that warms surface waters in the Equatorial Pacific region. In Brazil, El Niño has historically caused droughts in the north and intense rainfall in the south.
This year, the impacts of El Niño have been particularly dramatic, with a historic drought in the Amazon. Scientists say extreme weather is happening more frequently due to human-caused climate change.
Karina Lima, a 36-year-old scientist and PhD candidate in climatology at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, told The Associated Press that the state is located in a region with certain characteristics that amplify El Niño’s destructive potential.
“Models have long predicted that Rio Grande do Sul will continue to see an increase in average annual precipitation and extreme precipitation, meaning more concentrated and severe rainfall,” she said.
A new study has found that fifty percent of all major cities in China are sinking. Groundwater depletion is the likely culprit, and with climate changes such as rising sea levels and heavier rainfall due to ocean warming, the atmosphere can hold an additional ten to forty percent more moisture, wreaking even more havoc from natural disasters by the changing climate.
The heavy rainfall is particularly worrying as Guangdong is not yet in the rainy season.
According to a new study published in the journal Science this week, almost half of China's major cities are sinking, putting millions of locals at risk of flooding.
The study found that 45% of China's urban land was sinking faster than 3 mm a year, while 16% was sinking at a rate of more than 10 mm a year.
The study authors looked at 82 Chinese cities with populations of more than 2 million and used radar pulses from satellites to identify any changes in the distance between the satellite and the ground.
They then measured how the cities' elevations had changed between 2015 and 2022.
They found that China's largest city, Shanghai, was continuing to subside despite already sinking around 3 m over the past 100 years.
Cities such as Beijing and Tianjin were also particularly affected.
In Kenya, nonstop rainfall from March to today is also killing people and enhancing misery in large swaths of the country. Like Brazil, a recent dam collapse has killed dozens.
Al Jazeera wrties:
Torrential rains have caused devastating floods in Kenya, where more than 200 people have died, thousands have been displaced and nearly 2,000 schools have been destroyed. All remaining schools have been shut down until further notice.
Rains have been ravaging Kenya since March, during some of the country's most catastrophic weather events in years. Now, Cyclone Hidaya is expected to hit Kenya and neighboring Tanzania late on Friday, which could further worsen the flooding. This comes amid recent heavy rainfall across East Africa.
While climate events such as El Nino – the warming of the surface water of the Pacific Ocean, which causes heavy rainfall in some parts of the world – have been linked to the increase in rain, many Kenyans believe the flooding has been exacerbated by lack of investment by the government.
In Mathare, locals blamed the flooding on poorly maintained, frequently blocked drains that have caused water to accumulate.
Flood survivor Nahason Igeria told Al Jazeera: “This was caused by the state national Railways Corporation. They are the ones who built the culvert downstream and the tunnel upstream. It should be their responsibility to maintain the system.”
To top it all off, Kenya's adjacent neighbor, Tanzania received the wrath of Cyclone Hidaya.
In the Middle East, flooding has made headlines for weeks.
Recent coverage from CNN:
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates —Emirates was forced to cancel and delay several flights in and out of Dubai, the second-busiest international airport in the world, while people and students were instructed to work and study from home, as heavy rains returned to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
The storm comes just two weeks after record-setting rainfall triggered damaging floods in several parts of the country and neighboring Oman, which killed at least four people in the UAE and ground the bustling city of Dubai to a halt.
SNIP
Scientists linked the record rainfall that hit the UAE and Oman two weeks ago to climate change. A team of 21 scientists and researchers, under the World Weather Attribution initiative, found that climate change was making extreme rainfall events in the two countries — which typically fall during El Niño years — between 10 and 40% more intense than they would have been without global warming.
Over a period of less than 24 hours during that event, the UAE experienced its heaviest rainfall in since records began 75 years ago. Dubai experienced the equivalent of more than a year and a half’s worth of rain in that time.
Flooding in Europe.
Hundreds were rescued in Texas. East Texas is projected to receive more heavy rainfall. Houston is one of the most flood-prone from heavy rainfall on Earth.
HOUSTON (AP) — High waters flooded neighborhoods around Houston on Saturday following heavy rains that have already resulted in crews rescuing more than 400 people from homes, rooftops and roads engulfed in murky water. Others prepared to evacuate their property.
A wide region was swamped from Houston to rural East Texas, where game wardens rode airboats through waist-high waters rescuing both people and pets who did not evacuate in time. One crew brought a family and three dogs aboard as rising waters surrounded their cars and home.
snip
The greater Houston area covers about 10,000 square miles (25,900 square kilometers) — a footprint slightly bigger than New Jersey. It is crisscrossed by about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) of channels, creeks and bayous that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown.
The system of bayous and reservoirs was built to drain heavy rains, but the engineering initially designed nearly 100 years ago has struggled to keep up with the city’s growth and bigger storms.
To be clear, these are just a few examples of flooding in recent weeks. Also, drought and deadly heat events are changing faster than predicted years ago.
Summer is coming, and those living in the Northern Hemisphere should worry about the consequences of decades of inaction. We are only at the beginning of a radical regime shift in the climate, and protocol says we are at 1.2 C above preindustrial times. One data set of three showed we were at 1.56 C, though that fact was overlooked by most media in 2023. It is going to be a spooky summer of 2024. Will all three data sets show above 1.50 C this year?
For all those thinking doomers, look at the rec list: a cat rescue skyrocketed to the top while suffering worldwide scrolls into oblivion. I call that privilege. Case in point made.