Plastic waste puts millions of world’s poorest at higher risk from floods

People walk on a flooded street after torrential rains paralysed Mumbai in July 2005. Photograph: Sebastian D’Souza/AFP/Getty Images

A devastating 2005 flood that killed 1,000 people in the Indian city of Mumbai was blamed on a tragically simple problem: plastic bags had blocked storm drains, stopping monsoon flood water from draining out of the city.

Now a new report, attempting to quantify this problem, estimates that 218 million of the world’s poorest people are at risk from more severe and frequent flooding caused by plastic waste.