RIO DE JANEIRO: Heavy rains spurred by global warming caused natural disasters in eight out of 10 Brazilian cities between 2020 and 2023, three times more than in the 1990s, according to a study published Tuesday.
Rising temperatures lead to increased water vapour in the atmosphere — about 7 percent per additional degree — increasing the risk of heavy rainfall in some regions, including Latin America.
In Brazil, the number of floods, river surges and landslides caused by intense rainfall surged from 2,335 in 2020 to 7,539 three years later, affecting 83% of cities, a report by the Brazilian Alliance for Oceanic Culture found.
The study, produced by private and public institutions, does not include data from 2024, when southern Brazil experienced unprecedented flooding.
Around 3.2 million people were affected on average each year, the report said, up from around 43,000 in the 1990s.
“This increase not only highlights the growing frequency of rain-related climate disasters, but also their severity,“ Ronaldo Christofoletti, a researcher behind the report, said in a statement.
The figures “underscore the urgent need to implement prevention and adaptation measures, with the aim of protecting vulnerable communities and mitigating the effects of these extreme events,“ he said.
The floods particularly affected the agricultural sector, which accounted for 47 percent of economic losses, according to the study.
The 2024 floods — combined with a historic drought the same year — drove up food prices, forcing the government to take measures to combat inflation.
