West Africa floods now five times more likely
A study by World Weather Attribution indicates that climate change has made extreme rainfall in West Africa five times more likely. The resulting floods have caused nearly 100 deaths across Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Togo, highlighting the vulnerability of rapidly urbanizing coastal regions.
Why it matters
This highlights the increasing human and economic cost of climate change in developing nations, emphasizing the urgent need for infrastructure adaptation.
Climate change has made extreme rainfall in West Africa five times more likely than in the late 19th century, scientists said, after regional floods killed nearly 100 people last month.
Intense downpours hit several West African coastal countries at the start of the rainy season in late June, triggering deadly floods in densely populated urban areas.
The "intense" three-day rainfall event is now about five times "more likely to occur today compared to a pre-industrial climate," the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group warned in a study.
Such events, once considered rare, are now expected every two to four years in the region, the researchers noted.
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