Over 150 disasters struck the world in 2024

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The WMO report calls 2024 the warmest year on record, tracing a trail of destruction caused by extreme weather that claimed many lives, destroyed buildings and devastated vital crops. More than 800,000 people were displaced, the highest annual toll since records began in 2008.

The report includes a total of 151 unprecedented extreme weather events in 2024, meaning they were more severe than ever before recorded in the region. Scorching temperatures during heatwaves peaked in Carnarvon, Western Australia, and the city of Tabas, Iran, as well as in Mali, where temperatures reached 50 degrees Celsius.

Italy suffered widespread flooding, landslides and power outages. Flash floods caused major crop damage in Pakistan and Brazil. 2024 also saw several very strong hurricanes. The Philippines was hit by six typhoons in one month, and Hurricane Helene hit Florida, becoming the strongest hurricane on record to hit the Big Bend region. Vietnam suffered Typhoon Yagi, which affected 3.6 million people. These are just a few of the natural disasters that occurred last year.

The world is already deep in a climate crisis with the WMO report saying the ten warmest years on record have all occurred in the last decade for the first time. Global carbon emissions continue to rise with even worse impacts. The UN Secretary-General says leaders must step up the transition to renewable energy sources. A professor at the Potsdam Climate Institute in Germany says global warming is continuing exactly as predicted since the 1980s, with millions of people increasingly suffering the consequences.

Source:Guardian