A Look Back at 2021 Climate Disasters: Extreme Season of Floods, Wildfires and Heatwaves [In Pictures]
The world assures change after another year of extreme climate disasters, but so far the idle promises do not seem so promising
Weather events, associated with rapidly changing climate have brought misery to millions around the world in 2021. Even though the doom is staring us right in the face, we choose to turn a blind eye and go about on our path of destruction with a higher target of reaping money by exploiting fossil fuels. This year will go down as among the hottest in the past 170 years, wherein the horrors of rising global temperatures were on full display. 2021 climate disasters were documented in pictures, giving a somber look into what we have done to our beautiful planet for our selfish means!
The year 2021 witnessed some truly horrifying natural disasters thanks to the climate crisis and we have compiled a picture log of these accounts. There were relentless wildfires in America, typhoons in Asia, droughts in Africa and floods in Europe among many others.
Many photographers documented these weather phenomena as they displaced and ruined lives both animal and human over the past 12 months, as if the pandemic wasn’t enough. Take a look at the truly heartbreaking pictures from the climate disasters of 2021 before moving toward a new year and hopefully, better tomorrows.
An elderly lady leaves her home threatened by wildfire in the village of Gouves, on the island of Evia, Greece, Aug. 2021 | Image: Konstantinos Tsakalidis/Bloomberg
Fires in Southern Europe wreaked havoc during this year | Image: Anadolu Agency
California had to bear the brunt of climate change in form of wildfires | Image: Fred Greaves/Reuters
The Bootleg Fire and Dixie Fire were the two of major fires in the US | Image: Fred Greaves/Reuters
Tamarack Fire burning the Alpine County in California, destroying habitat for both humans and animals | Image: Noah Berger/AP
An aerial photograph of houses surrounded by a wildfire that engulfed a Mediterranean resort region on Turkey’s southern coast near the town of Manavgat | Image: AFP
Siberia also had to bear the brunt of climate change as wildfires instigated permafrost melt | Image: Maksim Slutsky/AP
Firefighters have been relentlessly trying to contain wildfires across southern Europe | Image: Reuters
California on fire | Image: Ty ONeil
Thousands of acres of land was burned during the devastating fires | Image: Noah Berger/AP
Firefighters had to battle for months before the fires could be contained | Image: Noah Berger/AP
Charred forest will no longer provide food or shelter to wildlife for many months | Image: Noah Berger/AP
A deer crosses a road as a burning tree falls down | Image: Noah Berger/AP
Thousands of fire personnel fought the blazes tirelessly for months | Image: Noah Berger/AP
A parked car burns down in the Dixie Fire | Image: Noah Berger/AP
Homes burned down to ground, leaving many homeless | Image: Noah Berger/AP
A firefighter looks hopelessly as a home is devoured by the flames | Image: Noah Berger/AP
The blazes rose sky high as they engulfed entire forests | Image: Noah Berger/AP
The smoke from Greece wildfires eclipsing the sun | Image: Michael Pappas/AP
Entire mountain side is fire lit in the night in Sothern Europe | Image: Mahmut Serdar Alakus/Anadolu Agency
Greece fire damaged many historic and cultural places | Image: Giorgos Moutafis/Reuters
Many resort towns in Southern Europe were damaged by the fires | Image: Erdem Sahin/EPA
Fires scorched millions of acres of land throughout the world this year | Image: Emre Tazegul/AP
An aerial photograph of houses surrounded by a wildfire which engulfed a Mediterranean resort region on Turkey’s southern coast near the town of Manavgat | Image: AFP
Hurricane Ida brought about a heavy destruction upon the residents of the US where over 80 people died | Image: Adrees Latif/Reuters
The Bootleg Fire burned over 400,000 acres before being contained | Image: Reuters
Firefighters struggling to protect structures during California wildfires on the Echo Summit, a mountainous part of California east of Sacramento | Image: Lynsey Addario/National Geographic
A firefighter looking tired after tackling a fire near the Pacific Palisades | Image: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg
Mushumbi Pools, Mbire, Zimbabwe, May 14. This area had to contend with the impact of global warming, from droughts to floods and cyclones, even though Zimbabwe emits far less carbon than many other countries | Image: Cynthia R. Matonhodze/Bloomberg
People gather at holes dug to access water in Tsihombe, Madagascar, which has been drastically affected by climate change | Image: Alice Rahmoun/World Food Program via AP
This year, California has battled one of the most intense wildfire seasons amid a devastating drought that has almost dried up the San Gabriel River | Image: Mario Tama
Destruction after the flashfloods in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany, which also killed at least 170 people in the country | Image: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg
Charred ruins of civilization in Indian Falls | Image: David Swanson/Reuters
Firefighters trying to combat the Dixie Fire near Quincy, California | Image: Jungho Kim/The New York Times
A man looks at an approaching fire in exasperation near the village of Pefki in Evia | Image: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP
A train passing through a flooded region in Nidderau near Frankfurt, Germany | Image: Michael Probst/AP
The aftermath of the tropical Cyclone Shaheen in al-Khaburah city of Oman’s al-Batinah region | Image: AFP
Earlier this year, an intense winter storm enveloped the US Northeast, causing a freezing living situations amid massive power outage | Image: Reuters
The view of destruction in the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods | Image: David Young
Flames from the Dixie Fire consuming trees in Genesee, California
| Image: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg
A moor fire approaches as sheep rest on a hill top in Marsden, UK | Image: Oli Scarff/AFP
Tropical Cyclone Eloise triggered flooding in Buzi, Mozambique | Image: Bruno Pedro/UNICEF
Firefighters battling a brush fire in Irwindle, California | Image: Ringo Chiu/ZUMA Wire
Fire brigade personnel helped evacuating the city of South Limburg, Netherlands during floods | Image: Robin Utrecht/REX
A firefighter tries to douse the fire in Cyprus | Image: AFP
Countless homes were devoured by the fires | Image: Fred Greaves/Reuters
Wildfires not only displaced humans but millions of wild animals as well | Image: Vassilis Psomas/Reuters
The smoke from California wildfires was reportedly seen in Europe as well | Image: Reuters
Amazon also saw some destructive wildfires | Image: Carl de Souza
Aegean resort of Bodrum in Turkey had to be evacuated as wildfires devoured it | Image: AP
The raging Bootleg Fire in Oregon | Image: Noah Berger/AP
2021 wildfire season added a huge amount of emissions to the atmosphere | Image: Noah Berger/AP
Dixie Fire burned 963,309 acres before it could be contained | Image: Noah Berger/AP
A tornado left a trail of destruction in Hrusky, Czech Republic | Image: Action Press/Rex
Cyclone Tauktae making landfall in the western India | Image: AFP
Water logged streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh
| Image: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP
The damaged port after the floods in Liege, Belgium
| Image: Bernard Gillet/AFP
In the summer, Greece also experienced intense wildfires | Image: Vassilis Psomas/Reuters
The Bootleg fire devoured thousands of acres of land in south-east Oregon | Image: National Wildfire Coordinating Group
A firefighting plane drops fire retardant on the huge Jurupa Valley fire | Image: Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times
Plumes of smoke rise sky high from the Palisades fire in Topanga state park near Los Angeles | Image: Patrick T Fallon/AFP
The streets of Shrewsbury, UK were submerged in water after the Storm Christoph brought heavy rains across the country | Image: Oli Scarff/AFP
Upper and Lower Austria, Tyrol and Styria all reporting flooded streets as heavy rain hit country in August, 2021 | Image: AFP
Severe flooding and landslides in Austria caused this train to get stuck in the debris | Image: AFP
