Extreme rainfall

Unplanned urbanisation fuels landslide disasters amid emerging rainfall trends

View of impacted areas in the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil

At the end of February, intense and localized rainfall triggered severe flooding and landslides across the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, resulting in more than 70 fatalities (ReliefWeb, 2026). The city of Juiz de Fora was particularly affected and recorded its wettest month  on record (INMET; G1, 2026). The first heavy rainfall events occurred between … Continue reading “Unplanned urbanisation fuels landslide disasters amid emerging rainfall trends”

Increasingly severe rainstorms put people and structures built on floodplains at risk

Since 16 January, nine named storms have battered the western Mediterranean, with Spain, Portugal and Morocco hardest hit.  In Spain, flooding and infrastructure damage from heavy winds forced over 12,400 evacuations, affected 115,000 people in 19 villages in the Sierra de Cádiz, and led the Spanish Government to commit more than €7 billion in aid, … Continue reading “Increasingly severe rainstorms put people and structures built on floodplains at risk”

La Niña, Climate change, high exposure and vulnerability combined led to devastating floods in parts of Southern Africa

Since late December 2025, severe flooding has affected large parts of Mozambique, Eswatini, northeastern South Africa and Zimbabwe, killing more than 200 people (Al Jazeera, 2026), destroying more than 173,000 acres of crops (Sky News, 2026) and causing further widespread humanitarian and socioeconomic impacts in the affected countries. In Mozambique, more than 75,000 people across … Continue reading “La Niña, Climate change, high exposure and vulnerability combined led to devastating floods in parts of Southern Africa”

Unequal evidence and impacts, limits to adaptation: Extreme Weather in 2025

Introduction  Every December we are asked the same question: was it a bad year for extreme weather? And each year, the answer becomes more unequivocal: yes. Fossil fuel emissions continue to rise, driving global temperatures upward and fueling increasingly destructive climate extremes across every continent. Although 2025 was slightly cooler than 2024 globally, it was … Continue reading “Unequal evidence and impacts, limits to adaptation: Extreme Weather in 2025”

Increasing heavy rainfall and extreme flood heights in a warming climate threaten densely populated regions across Sri Lanka and the Malacca Strait

Cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka. UNDP 2025. Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo.

On 27 November, Cyclonic Storm Ditwah struck Sri Lanka with strong winds and very heavy rainfall, causing the worst flooding and landslides since the early 2000s (UN News, 2025). Cyclonic Storm Ditwah became the deadliest weather-related disaster since the 2004 tsunami. Meanwhile Indonesia, Malaysia and southern Thailand were experiencing persistent heavy rainfall, intensified by Cyclonic … Continue reading “Increasing heavy rainfall and extreme flood heights in a warming climate threaten densely populated regions across Sri Lanka and the Malacca Strait”