World Weather Attribution (WWA) scientists report that fossil fuel-driven warming contributed to the occurrence and intensity of Nepal’s cascading flood disaster on August 26. The disaster began with a rock and ice collapse from a glacier on Langtang Lirung, causing a fast-moving flood in the Lhende river.
Researchers stated that climate change acted as a destabilizing factor on a slope already weakened by geology, the 2015 Nepal earthquake, glacier retreat, and thawing permafrost. The study indicated the event exceeded the design and predictive limits of existing risk-reduction measures, highlighting adaptation limits in rapidly warming mountain regions.
Source: Down To Earth