Calamitous floods made more likely by global heating

The unusually prolonged and extensive flooding that has devastated southern Brazil was made at least twice as likely by human burning of fossil fuels and trees, a study has shown.

- Jonathan Watts

The record disaster has led to 169 deaths, ruined homes and wrecked harvests, and was worsened by deforestation, investment cuts and human incompetence.

The team of international scientists behind the study predicted that calamities on this scale would become more common in the future if there was not a sharp reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions heating the planet.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and in nearby Uruguay are still trying to rebuild their lives after a month of persistent downpours that displaced 80,000 people and left more than a million without essential services.

During the peak of the rains, the city of Santa Maria set a 24-hour rainfall record of 213.6mm. In three days, the state capital, Porto Alegre, was inundated with two months' worth of rain.