Climate change made peak rainfall last month in Pakistan’s Sindh and Balochistan provinces — which contributed to the devastating flooding that has affected 33 million people — 75% more intense than it would have been in a world without warming, according to an analysis by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a scientific group that studies the link between extreme weather events and climate change.
In addition to the rainfall, a heat wave in India and Pakistan earlier this year, also fueled by climate change, worsened the flooding that left a third of Pakistan under water, the scientists found.
The death toll from the floods has risen to nearly 1,500 and the physical damage to the country may surpass $30 billion. More than a million homes are damaged and thousands of schools and health facilities were destroyed.
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