A new study found that human-caused climate change doubled the likelihood and intensified the heavy rains that led to the recent deadly floods in Europe. Earlier this month, central Europe—including the countries of Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Germany—was hit by Storm Boris. Torrential rain led to floods that killed 24 people and left significant damage to the region’s infrastructure. The rainfall, which lasted four days, was “by far” the heaviest ever recorded in central Europe and twice as likely to have been caused by global warming linked to the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, World Weather Attribution said on Wednesday. The World Weather Attribution is a group of scientists that run rapid climate attribution studies. The group was created in 2015, largely because of frustration that it took so long to determine whether climate change was the cause of specific extreme weather events. “Yet again, these floods highlight the devastating results of fossil fuel-driven warming,” Joyce Kimutai, the study’s lead author and a climate researcher at Imperial College, London, told The Associated Press. Newsletter Geoscape Global Policy Insights Gain a deeper understanding of the world through our expert analysis, delivered biweekly. I want to receive special offers and promotions from Newsweek By clicking on SIGN ME UP, you agree to Newsweek’s Terms of Use & Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe at any time. The study—which hasn’t been peer-reviewed but follows scientifically accepted techniques—analyzed the four-day rainfall events and focused on severely impacted countries. The researchers studied weather data and used climate models to see how likely rainfall events that severe would be in preindustrial times (without the current 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit of global warming) Floodwater surrounds a neighborhood in Bohumin, Czech Republic, on September, 17. A new study found that climate […]