The insurance sector reports that the number of floods and wind storms experienced in Europe has risen dramatically since 1980.
Their research also indicates that the increases are “in line with climate change”.
Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance company, provided data which showed that 30 flood events last year in Europe required insurance payouts. In 1980 there had been just 12.
Ernst Rauch, the head of Munich Re’s corporate climate centre, said: “Flood events together with wind storm events are the two perils where we have the biggest increase in frequency worldwide.
“In Europe, we’ve seen a steep increase in flood events related to severe convective [thunder] storms. The frequency of flash floods has increased much more than river floods since 1980.”
The intensity of storms in Europe and abroad had also intensified, he added.
Munich Re said that the significant weather events followed a pattern. “Unfortunately this is in line with climate change,” Rauch said. “It is amazing how closely these developments fit with the outcomes of climate models.”
The trend could well accelerate as higher temperatures drive up atmospheric moisture levels. Since the 1950s, annual precipitation has increased in northern Europe but decreased in the Mediterranean, a trend that UN climate scientists expect will continue.
“We have very strong evidence that extreme rainfall events are increasing whichever way around you look at it,” said Dr Peter Stott, head of climate monitoring at the UK Met Office. “That’s simply a result of the physics of how the atmosphere works.”
For every degree of global warming, the earth’s atmosphere is able to hold about 6% more moisture, increasing the energy available to be fed into thunderstorms, Stott said.
“The increase in record-breaking precipitation can only be explained by increasing temperatures caused by climate change,” said Fred Hattermann at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
Munich Re records all natural disasters, including earthquakes, but points out that more than 90% of those logged since 1980 have been climate-related.
The reinsurer estimates that $175 billion was lost last year due to natural disasters of which $50 billion was covered by insurance.
