Climate change made devastating Brazil floods twice as likely

Climate change made the recent flooding that devastated southern Brazil twice as likely, a team of international scientists said on Monday, adding that the heavy rains were also intensified by the natural El Nino phenomenon.
More than 170 people were killed and nearly 580,000 displaced after storms and floods battered Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul last month, with local authorities describing it as the worst disaster in the region’s history.
Even in the current climate, experts from the World Weather Attribution group said, the heavy rainfall that submerged entire towns and destroyed critical infrastructure was an “extremely rare” event expected to occur only once every 100 to 250 years. But it would have been even rarer without the effects of burning fossil fuel, the group said.
By combining weather observations with results from climate models, the scientists estimated that climate change had made the event in southern Brazil twice as likely and around 6% to 9% more intense.