How a Year of Rain Fell on Parts of Spain in Eight Hours

The flooding in eastern Spain, already the deadliest disaster in the countrys recent history, is a foretaste of the extreme storms that the region can expect to see more of as humans continue heating up the planet, scientists said this week. Because warmer air holds more moisture, the likelihood of severe downpours rises with every extra ounce of carbon dioxide that people put into the atmosphere by burning coal, oil and gas for energy. The storms that caused were of a type that is familiar to the region each fall. But global warming is helping such storms pack a bigger punch, scientists said, in a warning to local officials about the increasing urgency of flood preparedness. In the town of Chiva, west of the city of Valencia, nearly 20 inches of rain fell in eight hours on Tuesday, said. Thats what the area normally receives in a year. We know that extreme rainfall is becoming more extreme and more frequent, said Andreas Prein, a professor of weather and climate modeling at the Swiss university ETH Zurich. And we know that our infrastructure is aging and outdated. But being proactive about that is extremely difficult. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and your Times account, or for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? . Want all of The Times? .