LEILA FADEL, HOST: Deadly flooding earlier this month in Central Europe was twice as likely because of climate change. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis by top climate scientists. Here’s Rebecca Hersher with NPR’s climate desk. REBECCA HERSHER, BYLINE: Extremely heavy rain fell on parts of Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Romania, Hungary, Germany and Slovakia during a three-day period in mid-September. In some areas, months’ worth of rain fell in just a couple days. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRIME MINISTER DONALD TUSK: (Speaking Polish). HERSHER: That’s Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk declaring a state of emergency. At least 24 people were killed in the floods, and millions more were affected as water overtook roads and homes. Climate change is causing heavier rain and more severe floods because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture. So in the days after the disaster, top European climate scientists wondered how climate change might have affected these specific floods. Fredi Otto runs the World Weather Attribution research group at Imperial College London. FREDI OTTO: So we did this study within one week and with the data that’s available at the moment. HERSHER: Such rapid analyses are increasingly common after deadly weather events. In this case, the results showed climate change played a very big role. OTTO: So climate change made this event twice as likely. And also, the intensity of the rainfall associated with this event increased by 20%. HERSHER: Meaning that without human-caused climate change, less rain would have fallen, and the floods would have been just half as likely to happen. And Otto warns that the danger from extreme rain is only growing. OTTO: We need to prepare for even more heavy rainfall. So unless we stop burning fossil fuels, this rainfall and the associated flooding will only get […]