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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Fiona Harvey Environment editor

Only a third of world’s river basins experienced normal conditions in 2024

Flooding in a rural area in Punjab, Pakistan, with a lone man standing outside a flooded building
Flooding in Kasur, Punjab, after heavy monsoon rains and melting glaciers in September caused rivers to overflow. Photograph: Sohail Shahzad/EPA

Only a third of the world’s river basins experienced normal conditions last year as the climate crisis drove extremes of drought and flood, sometimes both in the same region.

The increasingly erratic water cycle is creating big problems for societies and governments and causing billions of dollars in damage, scientists warned.

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