Headline
Is climate change to blame for Cumbria floods?
United Kingdom
A man by Pooley Bridge in Ullswater, Cumbria surveys the damage after it collapsed following heavy flooding. Photo: Press Association
Flooding is the biggest threat that the UK faces as a result of climate change...The UK government's first comprehensive climate change risk assessment in 2012 identified that up to 3.6 million people would be at risk from floods by 2050, with financial damage increasing to £2bn-£10bn by 2080. The basic physics of why a warmer world means more floods is well-established: as temperatures rise, the air gets warmer and is able to hold more moisture. Warm, moist air is the basic material for a rainstorm, which means climate change is slowly increasing the likelihood of storms, while also making each of those storms more powerful
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