A year of disasters fueled by climate change

Record heat, droughts, forest fires, floods, hurricanes, storms. The year 2021 will have been marked by numerous extreme weather phenomena on the planet which have brought to the fore the climate emergency and its devastating consequences. Zoom in on 10 of the most significant disasters.

Eric-Pierre Champagne
Press

Snowstorm in Madrid

In January, the city of Madrid was hit by the worst storm in 50 years which left 60 cm of snow in the Spanish capital. Result of a tropical cyclone, the storm named Filomena particularly affected Portugal and Spain with significant amounts of snow that killed three people and paralyzed the city of 3.2 million inhabitants for several days.

Snow storm in texas

In North America, a major snowstorm hit Texas hard in February, causing an outage in the power grid that affected 3.5 million subscribers. With the cold snap, the mercury dropped to -13 ° C in parts of this southern state, where more than 200 deaths were recorded during the tragedy.

Heat Dome in the West

Canada was not spared in 2021 by extreme weather events. The dome of heat that plagued western North America in June and July shattered several temperature records (49.6 ° C in Lytton, British Columbia, in particular). According to scientists, the intensity of this heat wave would not have been possible without climate change.

Forest fires in British Columbia

In addition to the heat dome, the northwest of the continent also suffered numerous forest fires during the summer. One of them literally wiped the town of Lytton, British Columbia off the map. California and Oregon in the United States have also been badly affected.

Floods in Europe

In July, heavy rains caused extensive flooding in several European countries, including Germany and Belgium. The disaster claimed more than 200 lives and caused damage valued at several billion dollars. According to scientists, this event is most likely a consequence of climate change.

Floods in China

In China, the province of Henan was particularly affected by torrential rains in July which resulted in historic flooding. Of the approximately 300 victims, most were in Zhengzhou City, which has a population of 10 million. The city received in 72 hours the equivalent of a full year of precipitation, including 200 mm of rain in just one hour on July 20.

Forest fires in Greece

Already affected by a serious social and economic crisis, Greece was not spared by the weather in 2021. In August, when it faced the worst heat wave in 30 years, the country also suffered many forest fires to the gates of the capital, Athens. Commenting on the situation, the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization, Petteri Taalas, affirmed that “the harsh reality of climate change is playing out in real time before our eyes”.

Hurricane Ida

Like a bad omen, the hurricane Ida reached the Louisiana coast at the end of August, almost in the same place as Katrina 16 years earlier. The storm claimed dozens of lives and caused damage estimated at over 60 billion US dollars (approximately 77 billion CAN) as far as the northeastern United States.

Floods in South Sudan

Already one of the poorest countries on the planet, South Sudan has again had to contend with floods that forced the displacement of several hundred thousand people over the summer. In this country, more than half of the population is vulnerable to episodes of drought and flooding which will increase with climate change.

Flooding in British Columbia

The Abbotsford area of ​​the Fraser Valley faced several atmospheric rivers in October and November that brought heavy rains and historic flooding. Although several factors may have contributed to the disaster, the frequency and intensity of atmospheric rivers that hit the region are most likely due to climate change, scientists say.