JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Human-caused climate change worsened the recent torrential rains and floods which devastated parts of southern Africa, killing more than 100 people and displacing over 300 000, researchers said Thursday.A study by the World Weather Attribution, which analyzed the recent heavy rainfalls that caused severe flooding in parts of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, showed that the region experienced a year’s worth of rain in a period of 10 days.It resulted in widespread damage to housing and infrastructure estimated to run into the millions of dollars, and caused untold human suffering, including the loss of lives.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMany homes and buildings in Mozambique were completely submerged under water, while roads and bridges were swept away in the South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga and parts of Zimbabwe.The study was conducted by scientists from across the world using peer-reviewed methods to assess the impact of climate change on severe weather patterns and events.A once in 50 years occurrenceThe data obtained from the recent downpours, the rare magnitude of which occurs roughly once every 50 years, confirmed a “clear move toward more violent downpours,” the study shows.It was also compounded by the current La Nina weather phenomenon which naturally brings wetter conditions in the southern Africa region but was now operating within a much warmer atmosphere.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Our analysis clearly shows that our continued burning of fossil fuels is not only increasing the intensity of extreme rainfall, but turning events that would have happened anyway into something much more severe,” said Izidine Pinto, a senior climate researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.Pinto, who co-authored the study, said the climate models used struggled to pinpoint exactly how much worse the recent floods were made by climate change, but that a 40% increase in the intensity of the rains would be impossible to explain without human-caused climate change.“It means what would have already been a serious period of heavy rain has been transformed into a more violent deluge that communities are not equipped to deal with,” he said.Way beyond expectationsAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe affected regions in southern Africa are no strangers to heavy downpours and flooding, but scientists were alarmed by the magnitude of the recent events.More in World“This event was a surprise to us because we have experienced the previous ones 25 years ago, which flooded the same areas,” said Bernardino Nhantumbo, a researcher with …
