The crisis in the climate is driving the ocean levels to rise and it only makes everything else worse. The extreme rainfall conditions that people suffer from whenever a storm is headed their way is due to the warming of the Earth. The storms that hit the countries all over the world has become more violent and destructive and will only continue to grow as the warming of the Earth continues.
According to the experts, the storms that will come will bring devastating wind and rain and it could cause a lot of flooding in low lying areas. The Cyclone Idai, for example, has ravaged through Zimbabwe and Malawi. It has been reported to be the worst kind of weather-related disaster that has hit the Southernmost hemisphere. The reports released by the UN states that the tropical storm has affected at least 2 million people. The storm surge that it came with has caused the flood of up to six meters in height. It left the affected areas devastated. Many lives were lost.
Experts say that it might be too early to make conclusions of how strong Cyclone Idai was, but they definitely consider it as one of the harsher effects of global warming. They said that the rapid change in climate conditions has powered these storms and made them stronger. Storms as such can only get worse through time. Sadly, the efforts to keep the changes that come with global warming has not made a dent to the damage that the Earth is suffered.
The Oxford University Environmental Change Institution, headed by Dr. Friederike Otto has conducted their own study about the extent of global warming in the world. He revealed, "There are three factors that turn a storm into something even more devastating -- amount of rainfall, the strength of the wind and the height of the storm surge. Rainfall levels have increased as a negative effect of climate change and not storm surges are higher and greater because of the increase in the sea levels."
Otto said that the best way to help the communities affected by the storm is to teach them to become more resilient. "The standards set for housing should be reviewed to consider the effects of global warming. People living along the shoreline should be resettled to much higher ground." These are the things that people need to consider as the world suffers from more devastating situations.
Dr. Rebecca Emerton, representative of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, from the University of Reading, said that a team of experts is now looking at improving the warning and forecasting systems. Researchers may not be able to lessen the storm surge, but they could definitely help people by getting them prepared for the worst that could come.
Emerton said that such a disaster should serve as a wake up call to everyone especially the governments. The effort should be put on delivering service to the community that will help save more lives in the future.
