[EUROPE] The devastating storms and floods that swept across Europe last year affected 413,000 people, according to a survey, as fossil fuel pollution pushed the continent to endure its hottest year on record.
Dramatic pictures of automobiles heaped up on submerged streets and bridges being ripped away by roaring torrents were observed across the continent in 2024, with "high" floods on 30% of the European river network and 12% exceeding the "severe" flood threshold, according to the European State of the Climate report.
The economic toll of these disasters has been staggering, with early estimates suggesting damages exceeding €12 billion—a figure that could rise as recovery efforts continue. Insurance claims related to flood and storm damage reached record levels, particularly in Germany, Italy, and France, where infrastructure vulnerabilities were exposed by the extreme weather. Experts warn that without significant investment in climate-resilient infrastructure, these costs will only escalate in the coming decades.
The two most destructive examples were the deluges that swept through central Europe in September and eastern Spain in October, resulting in more than 250 of the continent's 335 flooding deaths in 2024. Previous research has revealed that global warming has exacerbated and increased the likelihood of disasters by allowing clouds to pour more heavily on the ground.
Scientists point to the increasing frequency of "atmospheric rivers"—long, narrow bands of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere—as a key driver of Europe’s worsening flood crises. These phenomena, supercharged by warmer ocean temperatures, have been linked to some of the continent’s most catastrophic deluges in recent years. Climate models suggest such events could become up to 50% more intense by 2050 if emissions remain unchecked.
Celeste Saulo, director general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), stated that "every additional fraction of a degree" of temperature rise is significant, but that civilizations must also adapt to a hotter world. "We are making progress but need to go further and need to go faster," according to her. "And we need to go together." The assessment, issued on Tuesday by the EU's Copernicus climate change agency and the World Meteorological Organization, found that the number of days with "strong," "very strong," and "extreme heat stress" were all the second-highest on record.
Heat-related health emergencies surged in parallel, with hospitals across southern Europe reporting a 40% increase in admissions during peak heatwaves. Vulnerable populations, including the elderly and outdoor workers, bore the brunt of the impacts. Public health officials are now calling for mandatory heat action plans in every EU member state to prevent future casualties.
South-eastern Europe saw its longest heatwave on record in July 2024, scorching more than half of the territory for 13 days in a row, while high temperatures across the continent fueled disastrous wildfires that killed 42,000 people, according to the research. Last year, one-quarter of Europe's burned area was caused by severe wildfires in Portugal in September, which burned approximately 110,000 hectares in a single week.
Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London and co-leader of World Weather Attribution who was not involved in the study, stated that the paper "lays bare the pain Europe's population is already suffering from extreme weather" at 1.3 degrees Celsius of global warming above preindustrial levels.
“We’re on track to experience 3C by 2100,” she said. “You only need to cast your mind back to the floods in Spain, the fires in Portugal, or the summer heatwaves last year to know how devastating this level of warming would be.”
There's an "unusual" contrast between western and eastern Europe, with the former being damp and cloudy and the latter being bright and sunny. River flows were generally higher in western countries and lower in eastern ones. According to the report, the Thames in the United Kingdom and the Loire in France recorded their biggest flows in a 33-year period during many months last year.
Glaciers in all regions experienced net ice loss, with Scandinavia and Svalbard losing more mass than ever before, according to the report. The scientists also reported high temperatures north of the Arctic Circle and the warmest sea surface temperature ever measured in the Mediterranean.
The fast melting of glaciers is exacerbating another impending crisis: rising sea levels along Europe's highly populated coastlines. Coastal cities such as Venice, Rotterdam, and Copenhagen are already investing billions in flood barriers, but scientists warn that existing adaptation efforts may be overtaken by the rapid melting of ice in Greenland and the Arctic.
According to Froila Palmeiro, a climate scientist at the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change who was not involved in the paper, the extremes "not only have a direct impact on their ecosystems, but also play a role in weather patterns affecting all of Europe".
Europe is warming twice as quickly as the world average, but it has reduced climate-warming pollution quicker than other major economies. The EU aims to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and is anticipated to set a net 90% reduction target for 2040 later this year.
According to Thomas Gelin, a climate campaigner at Greenpeace EU, the analysis demonstrated that governments failed to hold fossil fuel companies accountable and prevent the spread of their polluting operations.
“The only parts of Europe that aren’t being boiled dry are being washed away in floods,” he said. “The EU must urgently update its climate targets to reflect the scientific reality, and put a stop to new fossil fuel projects as a first step to a full phase-out.”
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