Climate Change Intensifies Landslides in Kerala's Wayanad District

A new global study reveals that climate change has increased heavy rainfall by 10%, causing deadly landslides in Kerala's Wayanad district. Researchers warn that such events are likely to increase as the climate warms further. The study underscores the impact of human-caused climate change and links it to significant forest cover loss and quarrying in the region.

A new rapid attribution study conducted by a global team of scientists has linked deadly landslides in Kerala's Wayanad district to heavy rainfall, which has increased by 10% due to climate change.

Researchers from India, Sweden, the US, and the UK warned that such events will become more frequent as the climate continues to warm. The scientists from the World Weather Attribution group utilized high-resolution climate models to measure the impact, revealing that further warming could increase rainfall intensity by another 4%.

Despite the model's high level of uncertainty due to the small and mountainous study area, the findings align with existing evidence on extreme rainfall events in a warming world. This is further exacerbated by factors like quarrying and a significant loss of forest cover in Wayanad.