Extreme weather

Available for over a year

In recent weeks the world has seen floods in Europe and China and devastating wildfires in Canada, the United States and Siberia. It’s difficult to link single events to global warming but climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events. Host Nuala McGovern hears from those affected by flooding in Germany and Belgium as well as people in the city of Zhengzhou, in Henan, China, which recently recorded the equivalent of a year’s average rainfall in just three days. A couple who escaped with their lives from a wildfire in Oregon, in the US, but lost their home also share why they’ve decided to leave the state for good. And one woman in British Columbia, Canada, explains why she’s decided to stay in her home and fight the fire. Plus, climate experts in South East Asia, Europe and the United States discuss the seriousness of the situation and why nature may be the best solution to the effects of extreme weather. (Photo: Firefighter silhouetted against orange flames and glow of the Bootleg fire, Oregon, July 22, 2021. Credit: NWCG / US Forest Service)