As the climate crisis intensifies, extreme weather events—severe natural catastrophes at extreme ends of historical trends—are increasingly the norm. The year 2024 was the warmest year ever recorded and the first to exceed the pre-industrial global mean temperature by more than 1.5°C.
Because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, severe rainfall and floods are becoming more common. While countries across Europe experienced a range of extreme weather events in 2024, including drought, wildfire and heat, flooding was among the most prevalent, and most expensive, climate hazards.