The UN World Meteorological Group (WMO) stated on Monday that extra intense downpours and glacier outburst floods have gotten more and more frequent, with lethal penalties for communities caught off guard.
“Flash floods should not new, however their frequency and depth are rising in lots of areas resulting from speedy urbanization, land-use change and a altering local weather,” stated Stefan Uhlenbrook, WMO Director of Hydrology, Water and Cryosphere.
Every extra diploma Celsius of warming permits the air to carry about 7 per cent extra water vapour.
“That is rising the chance of extra excessive rainfall occasions. On the identical time, glacier-related flood hazards are rising resulting from enhanced ice melting in a hotter local weather,” he added.
1000’s of lives misplaced yearly
Floods and flash floods declare 1000’s of lives annually and trigger billions of {dollars} in harm. In 2020, extreme flooding throughout South Asia killed greater than 6,500 individuals and induced $105 billion in financial losses.
Two years later, catastrophic floods in Pakistan left over 1,700 individuals useless, 33 million affected and losses exceeding $40 billion, reversing years of improvement good points.
This 12 months, the onslaught has continued. In July alone, South Asia, East Asia and the US have seen a string of lethal occasions, from monsoon rains to glacial lake bursts and sudden flash floods.
© WMO/Arya Manggala
Every year, excessive climate and local weather occasions take an enormous toll on lives and economies worldwide.
Asia reels from monsoon onslaught
In India and Pakistan, heavy monsoon rains have severed transport hyperlinks, washed away properties and triggered landslides. Pakistan declared a state of emergency in its worst-hit areas, deploying navy helicopters for rescue missions after forecasters warned of remarkable flood threat alongside the higher Jhelum River.
The Republic of Korea suffered record-breaking downpours between 16-20 July, with rainfall exceeding 115 mm per hour in some areas. A minimum of 18 individuals had been killed and greater than 13,000 had been evacuated.
In southern China, authorities issued flash flood and landslide alerts on 21 July, only a day after Hurricane Wipha battered Hong Kong, underscoring the compound dangers of sequential storms.
Texas flash flood strikes in a single day
In a single day 3 into 4 July, a sudden deluge turned Texas Hill Nation right into a catastrophe zone, killing greater than 100 individuals and leaving dozens lacking. In a couple of hours, 10-18 inches (25–46 cm) of rain swamped the Guadalupe River basin, sending the river surging 26 ft (8 metres) in simply 45 minutes.
© NASA
1-day precipitation totals from NASA’s IMERG multi-satellite precipitation product present heavy rainfall over central Texas on July 4, 2025.
Lots of the victims had been younger women at a summer season camp, caught unaware as floodwaters tore by way of sleeping quarters round 4 AM. Though the US Nationwide Climate Service issued warnings forward of time, native sirens had been missing and the ultimate alerts got here when most had been asleep.
Glacier outburst floods surge
Not all floods this month had been brought on by rain.
In Nepal’s Rasuwa district, a sudden outburst from a supraglacial lake – fashioned on a glacier’s floor – swept away hydropower crops, a serious bridge and commerce routes on 7 July. A minimum of 11 individuals had been killed and greater than a dozen are reported lacking.
Scientists on the Worldwide Centre for Built-in Mountain Growth (ICIMOD), a WMO accomplice, say glacial-origin floods within the Hindu Kush-Himalaya area are occurring way more typically than 20 years in the past, when one would possibly strike each 5 to 10 years.
In Might and June 2025 alone, three glacial outburst floods hit Nepal, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with two extra in Nepal on 7 July. If warming continues, the chance of such floods may triple by the century’s finish.
© UNICEF
Aftermath of a flood that swept by way of a high-altitude village in Nepal.
Closing the warning hole
The WMO is stepping up efforts to enhance flood forecasting by way of its international initiative and real-time steering platform, now utilized in over 70 nations.
The system integrates satellite tv for pc information, radar and high-resolution climate fashions to flag threats hours prematurely and is being expanded right into a country-led, globally interoperable framework.
A 2022 World Financial institution research estimated that 1.81 billion individuals – almost 1 / 4 of the world’s inhabitants – are straight uncovered to 1-in-100-year flood occasions, with 89 per cent residing in low- and middle-income nations.
The UN’s Early Warnings for All initiative goals to make sure that everybody, all over the place, is protected by early warning techniques by 2027.
