Page 12 - aruba-today-20201211

A12 SCIENCE
Friday 11 december 2020
The stormy, fiery year when climate disasters wouldn't stop

By SETH BORENSTEIN Gorges Dam in China killed
AP Science Writer at least 279 people in the
Nature struck relentlessly in summer and caused eco-
2020 with record-breaking nomic losses of more than
and deadly weather- and $15 billion, according to
climate-related disasters. the World Meteorological
With the most named Organization.
storms in the Atlantic, the Hue, Vietnam had a record
largest-ever area of Cali- 103 inches (261 centime-
fornia burned by wildfires, ters) of rain in October, ac-
killer floods in Asia and Af- cording to the WMO.
rica and a hot, melting Extremes, including heat
Arctic, 2020 was more than waves and droughts, hit
a disastrous year with the all over the world. Siberia
pandemic. It was a year reached a record 100 de-
of disasters — and climate grees (38 degrees Celsius)
change from the burning as much of the Arctic was 9
of coal, oil and natural gas degrees (5 degrees Celsius)
was a big factor, scientists warmer than average and
said. had an exceptionally bad
The United States didn't just wildfire season. Arctic sea
set a record for the most ice shrank to the second
disasters costing at least $1 In this Nov. 6, 2020, file photo, a resident walking through a flooded street looks back at storm lowest level on record and
billion — adjusted for infla- damage caused by Hurricane Eta in Planeta, Honduras. set a few monthly records
tion — the nation obliterat- Associated Press for melt.
ed the record, according Death Valley saw the
to the National Oceanic nine. And Louisiana got hit non-stop pace, and not all we've ever seen. The Arctic warmest temperature re-
and Atmospheric Adminis- five times. At one point, the those disasters make the temperatures, the wildfires, corded, 129.9 degrees
tration. American Red Cross had news." etc. etc." (54.4 degrees Celsius), on
By September, 2020 had 60 New Orleans hotels filled It was such a busy and cra- Worldwide, more than 220 Earth in at least 80 years.
tied the old record of 16 with refugees. zy a year that a derecho climate- and weather-re- The pace of disasters is no-
billion-dollar disasters and With a devastating 20-year that savaged the Midwest lated disasters hurt more ticeably increasing, said di-
when the count is com- megadrought and near- somehow flew under the than 70 million people and saster experts and climate
pleted in early January, record heat, California had radar, despite damage caused more than $69 bil- scientists. The international
officials figure it will be 20, at least 6,528 square miles nearing $10 billion, and is lion in damage. Over 7,500 database in Belgium cal-
likely more. Only three (16,907 square kilometers) barely remembered. Other people were killed, ac- culated that from 1980 to
states weren't part of a burned by wildfire, dou- billion-dollar severe storms, cording to preliminary fig- 1999, the world had 4,212
billion-dollar weather di- bling the previous record often with tornadoes and ures from the international disasters affecting 3.25 bil-
saster (Alaska, Hawaii and area burned. Five of the hail, struck the U.S. in Jan- disaster database kept at lion people and costing
North Dakota) — and all six l argest wildfires in Cali- uary, February, twice in the Centre for Research on $1.63 trillion, adjusted for
the coastline from Texas fornia history have been in March, three times in April the Epidemiology of Disas- inflation. From 2000 to 2019
to Maine, except for a tiny 2020. Oregon and Colora- and another three times in ters at the Catholic Univer- those figures jumped to
part of Florida, was under do had immense fire dam- May. sity of Louvain in Belgium. 7,348 disasters, 4.03 billion
a watch or warning for a age, too. More than 10,000 All these U.S. disasters have Of the disasters the group people affected and $2.97
hurricane, tropical storm or buildings were damaged "really added up to cre- tracks, including earth- trillion in damage.
storm surge from those sys- or destroyed and at least ate a catastrophic year," quakes, volcanoes and "Disasters are very much
tems in 2020, according to 41 people killed. said Adam Smith, a NOAA landslides, 85% to 90% are becoming a chronic condi-
U.S. weather officials. Between fires and hurri- applied climatologist. "Cli- climate and weather relat- tion in this country," said Rig-
With 30 named storms, the canes, the American Red mate change has its fin- ed, said Director Debarati gen, who has noticed the
Atlantic hurricane season Cross provided a record 1.3 gerprints on many of these Guha-Sapir. change since 2006 when

surpassed the mark set million nights of shelter for different extremes and di- Unlike the United States, he joined the Red Cross af-
in 2005, ran out of storm disaster-struck Americans sasters." which saw a rare break in ter Hurricane Katrina.
names and went deep into — four times the annual av- "Nature is sending us a mes- 2020 from increasing non- Climate change figures in
the Greek alphabet, mak- erage for the previous de- sage. We better hear it," hurricane flooding, world- the growth of disasters, es-
ing meteorologists recon- cade. United Nations Environment wide "floods is your biggest pecially wildfires worsened
sider how they name future "Since April, we've seen a Programme Director Inger problem," Guha-Sapir said. by drought and heat, said
storms, officials said. Ten of large disaster occur some- Andersen told The Associ- "It's a huge mistake to un- Pennsylvania State Universi-
those storms rapidly inten- where in the country every ated Press in an interview. derestimate floods." ty climate scientist Michael
sified, making them more five days," said Trevor Rig- "Wherever you go, what- Floods killed more than Mann.
dangerous. A dozen made gen, the Red Cross vice ever continent, we see 1,900 people in India in "I didn't expect to see a
landfall in the U.S., easily president in charge of di- Nature socking it at us. The June and affected 17 mil- season with 30 named
smashing the old record of sasters. "It's really been a warmest three-year period lion people, according to storms in my lifetime," Mann
the center's data. Other said, noting that hurricanes
flooding and associated were fueled by a natural La
landslides in Nepal, Paki- Nina cooling of parts of the
stan, Afghanistan and central Pacific combined
again in India killed at least with human-caused warm-
another 1,250 people. Afri- ing of water temperatures.
can floods killed nearly 600 National Hurricane Center
people. Deputy Director Ed Rap-
And flooding along Y ang- paport said: "It was an ex-
tze River and the Three hausting year."q