Climate change made damage from Super Typhoon Ragasa significantly worse, study warns
Around a third of the extensive damage the storm caused in southern China was the result of global warming, scientists estimate
They added that as the planet continued to warm, tropical cyclones were expected to become increasingly destructive.
“In the case of Ragasa, a category three at landfall [under the scale used to measure Atlantic hurricanes], we estimate that this type of event was about 49 per cent more likely compared to pre-industrial times,” the rapid attribution study from Imperial’s Grantham Institute found.
“We also estimate that about a third – 36 per cent – of the damage in south China of a ‘Ragasa’ type typhoon can be attributed to climate change compared to the pre-industrial baseline.”
Climate change, primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels, boosted Ragasa’s winds by 7 per cent and rainfall by 12 per cent at landfall, the scientists added.