Hundreds of people have died in the floods in Spain. Scientists see a connection with climate change

At least 205 people have been killed and dozens are still missing after water and mud swept through towns and cities in eastern Spain.

It is one of the deadliest weather events in modern Spanish history, and climate scientists see a link to man-made global warming.

Climate change has made this week’s intense rainfall about 12% heavier and twice as likely, according to a rapid analysis by Attribution of world weatheran international network of scientists assessing the impact of climate change on major weather events.

“There is a clear footprint of climate change on events like this,” Daniel Zwaana climate scientist at UCLA who was not involved in the analysis wrote in an email.

For decades, climate scientists have warned that global warming, caused mainly by humans burning oil, gas and coal, would cause serious flooding.

An atmosphere that gets hotter from the burning of fossil fuels can hold more water vapor, which can make rainstorms more intense. At least the world is now 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than it was in the 19th century. Climate research indicates a temperature increase of 1.3 degrees means that the atmosphere can contain about 9% more moisture.

In places like Chiva, a town near Valencia, a year’s worth of rainfall fell in just eight hoursThis is reported by the Spanish meteorological agency.

“One of the clearest short-term consequences of global warming, aside from rising temperatures themselves, is an increase in the most extreme rainfall events,” Swain writes.

Spain’s flooding is also likely linked to its climate with super-hot oceans, scientists say. Climate change is the main driver of record-breaking hot oceans. When ocean waters are warmer, storms can suck in extra moisture.

A analysis from Climate Central, a nonprofit research group finds that global warming likely led to higher temperatures in the part of the Atlantic Ocean where most of the storm’s moisture came from.

“The devastating floods in Spain are the latest example of the kind of extreme climate events that scientists have been warning us about,” Rebecca Carter, director of climate adaptation and resilience at the nonprofit World Resources Institute, wrote in an email.

She writes that the floods underscore the need to strengthen early warning systems to quickly move people out of harm’s way. She writes: “As the climate continues to be destabilized, no place can count on being spared from unprecedented disasters like this.”