The intensity and scale of the floods in Germany this week have shocked climate scientists, who did not expect records to be broken this much, over such a wide area or this soon.
01:45 'It went so fast': villagers describe destruction as flooding hits western Germany – video.
Climate scientists have long predicted that human emissions would cause more floods, heatwaves, droughts, storms and other forms of extreme weather, but the latest spikes have surpassed many expectations.
01:00 Germany floods: stranded residents rescued by helicopter from rooftops – video.
Gerten, who grew up in a village in the affected area, said it occasionally flooded, but not like this week.
said Carlo Buontempo, the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
“We scientists in recent years have been surprised by some events that occurred earlier and were more frequent and more intense than expected. »
