Experts have warned of the impact of climate change on storms and floods, and attributed the heavy rainfall currently hitting Austria and other European countries to climate change, noting that it has become more frequent and intense due to the phenomenon of global warming, and warning of more serious consequences in the future.
Climate research agrees that heavy rainfall has increased significantly in most continental regions, especially in Europe.
The extreme weather conditions that Austria has recently been exposed to confirm the need to focus on adapting to climate change, in conjunction with working to enhance climate protection measures and policies, after Austria was recently repeatedly exposed to strong thunderstorms, heavy rains and floods, in conjunction with the worsening suffering from a significant rise in temperatures in the summer, especially after the country witnessed the hottest summer in the history of temperature measurements in 258 years.
The capital Vienna set a new record for the number of hot days, with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, with 47 hot days.
Climate Services reports confirmed that the average annual temperature in Austria increased by 1.4 degrees Celsius during the period 1991-2020 compared to the normal climate period 1961-1990.
The eastern Austrian states have been hit by a wave of bad weather in recent days, accompanied by strong winds that brought huge amounts of rain, leading to devastating floods due to the overflow of water from rivers and bodies of water in the state of Lower Austria, which the government declared a disaster area, and allowed the intervention of army soldiers to help in relief and rescue work and the evacuation of thousands of residents, due to the continuous heavy rains for five days.
The flood disaster, which affected the states of Upper Austria and Salzburg and some areas in the capital Vienna, claimed the lives of many people. The number of victims rose as the flood waters receded to 5 people, most of whom drowned in the torrential waters, which surrounded homes and flooded the upper floors to a height of several meters, due to the rise in the water level of rivers and the collapse of a number of dams, in addition to sweeping away cars and flooding vast areas of agricultural land, pastures and farms in the state of Lower Austria, the largest Austrian state with a population of about two million people. The flood exceeded the highest levels recorded in about 30 years in several cities overlooking the Danube River, and recorded new record levels in the regions of Weinviertel and Mostviertel, according to data from the Civil Defense services.
Civil defense forces faced difficult conditions while evacuating residents by boat from the affected areas, where electricity was cut off due to the flooding of transformer stations, which led to the disruption of fixed and mobile phone networks, in addition to cutting off traffic on roads and railways. The level of floodwaters in some Austrian cities, such as the city of “Waidhofen”, exceeded the level of the highest flood recorded in about 100 years, and rainfall in some areas recorded record numbers of about 350 liters per square meter.
In contrast, Vienna was spared the catastrophe of widespread flooding, thanks to the Danube River Island Project, which has protected the Austrian capital from the risk of flooding since 1987. This project saw the completion of the construction of an artificial island in the river, 300 metres wide and about 21 kilometres long, between the main river course and the new branch. The island created a new body of water used to regulate water bodies through several dams, to absorb flood waters and protect the city.
The flood disaster not only caused great human suffering, but also led to huge losses in the agricultural and livestock sectors, in addition to the death of thousands of wild animals, including brown rabbits, foxes, hedgehogs and various types of birds.
The Wildlife Science Research Institute expressed its concern about the significant impact on the lives of wild mammals.
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