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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Oliver Milman in New York

America’s summer of floods: climate crisis fueling barrage, scientists say

Severe flooding in East St Louis, Illinois, in late July.
Severe flooding in East St Louis, Illinois, in late July. Photograph: Derik Holtmann/AP

An entire building and roads washed away by raging waters in Yellowstone. People desperately swimming from their homes in St Louis. Dozens dead after torrential downpours in Kentucky. The summer of 2022 has been one of extreme floods in the US, with scientists warning the climate crisis is worsening the devastation.

The deadliest of the recent barrage of floods, in Kentucky, was described as “heartbreaking” by Joe Biden as he surveyed ruined houses and inundated cars on Monday. At least 37 people died after five days of pounding record rain washed down mountainsides and drowned entire towns, an event that scientists say is a once in 1,000 year occurrence.

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