The monsoon season has barely begun yet the destruction and devastation are already surpassing numerous in the past. Rivers have swollen, changing course to wreak havoc in places, and roads are flooded. Much of the north-central US has received intense rainfall in June, causing numerous floods across the region, with major flooding underway on the Big and Little Sioux rivers, the Des Moines River, and the Minnesota River.
These intense rainfall occurrences are not linked to the monsoon season but the extreme climate change which has been severely altering the season patterns and intensity this decade. But the phenomenon is not limited to the US, other countries have also been bearing the brunt of years of relentless emissions changing the world’s climatic conditions.
Earlier this year, Dubai received about six inches of rainfall in 24 hours, which is almost a year and a half’s worth of annual precipitation. On the Indian subcontinent, the monsoon season barely has kicked off and warnings for flash floods have been issued.
Image: REUTERS/Ben Brewer
While the naysayers are still harping on about climate change being unreal, the world is drastically changing. This year, the rain isn’t just falling, it has been breaking previous records. The onslaught of rain is only going to get intense.
The reason is that the warmer the climate gets, the atmosphere holds more water, which supercharges storms along with the flow of moisture from warming oceans. It has caused extreme rainfall and consequently, more floods. This increases the pressure to prepare for and adapt to more frequent flooding.
Image: REUTERS/Ben Brewer
However, with talks of planning and combating climate change every year, global leaders somehow seem unable to grasp the urgency of the matter. The once within-reach goal of keeping the rising temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius is now but a wisp of dust, while the world is left to whiplash from heatwaves to flooding overnight.
Unless the entire human race unites to find ways to curb climate change and preserve the livability of the planet, each living being will suffer through fire or water. This is a climate emergency we cannot ignore. Planning to divert rainwater to protect human settlements from floods will be no good unless we can bring back the once-normal rainfall patterns.
Via: USA Today