Why the Texas Floods Were So Deadly

Climate|Why the Texas Floods Were So Deadly

The floods that ravaged Texas last week, leaving more than 105 people dead, occurred in a region known as Flash Flood Alley. And while the storm developed quickly, the National Weather Service offered what appears to have been a relatively good forecast in a rapidly developing situation, according to former Weather Service officials.

But despite known risks in the area and warnings that were first issued around midnight Thursday, the floods became one of the deadliest weather events in recent American history.

How did that happen?

It’s too early to say with certainty that the slow-moving thunderstorms were made worse by man-made climate change. But the weather pattern that unleashed more than 10 inches of rain in a matter of hours is precisely the kind of phenomenon that scientists say is becoming more common because of global warming.

“The atmosphere is like a giant sponge,” said Arsum Pathak, director of adaptation and coastal resilience at the National Wildlife Federation. “As the air gets warmer, which is what’s been happening because of climate change, the sponge can hold a lot more water. And then when there’s a storm, the same sponge can squeeze out way more water than it used to.”

Storms are becoming more intense

President Trump, thus far, has avoided casting blame for the storm’s death toll, and called the floods “a hundred-year catastrophe” in remarks to reporters on Sunday.

But Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, said the research showed that as the planet warmed, sudden outbursts of extreme precipitation were becoming more powerful.