The study's lead author, Daniel Swain, a renowned climate scientist at the Institute of the Environment & Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles believes it might be too late for the state of California.
Discover our latest podcast
'Climate change is upping the odds'
He explains that these massive floods will be more frequent and more catastrophic than ever before with the rise of global warming. Speaking to The Guardian, he said:
Societally, from a public policy and climate adaptation infrastructure building perspective we are falling behind. Our goal in doing this work is to get ahead of the curve as much as we can when it comes to the risk of megaflood. We know that eventually it will happen and that climate change is upping the odds.
And added:
[Global warming] is both juicing out the winter storms, making them more extreme and amplifying flood risk, but also supercharging the capacity of the atmosphere to suck that water right back out of the landscape and make droughts worse as well.
More frequent and destructive natural disasters
The study found that by 2060, things could drastically take a turn for the worst in many places in the world. In California for instance, the study predicts that 'severe storms [have] the potential to pelt the state with enough rainfall to displace millions'.
Deanne Criswell, an emergency management officer who has served as the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency since April 2021 said:
The changing climate is the biggest crisis facing our nation and makes natural disasters more frequent and more destructive. While our mission itself has not changed, our operating environment has.
Read also:
⋙ Shark attacks prey a few meters away from swimmers (VIDEOS)
⋙ West Nile virus: What is the mosquito-borne disease and should we be worried?
