Now it’s Italy. 14 Inches in 6 hours.
November 8, 2011
Rain continuing to soak parts of northern Italy on Monday has extended the threat of flooding following last week’s deadly storms
Last Friday, flooding turned deadly in Genoa, where 14 inches of rain fell within six hours, according to the UK’s Telegraph.
Torrents of runoff swept through streets, scooping up cars and inundating hundreds of shops, the BBC said. The flooding killed six people.
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
November 8, 2011 at 10:11 am
I know you can’t resist salivating about a “good” disaster but a cursory look at the recent history of the city of Genoa (say, 1822 onwards) is mandatory to understand what exactly there is to see, and it’s definitely not climate change:
http://bit.ly/sQyNIh (translated automatically by Google)
Bottom lines: floods happen to fools building in the riverbed of flood-prone torrents; and attribution of current events to climate change is often the realm of the ignorant.
November 8, 2011 at 10:50 am
“attribution of current events to climate change is often the realm of the ignorant.” Well, both attitudes are about equally as valid. To deny climate change may have had any effect is as wrong as pointing at every extreme weather event as final proof.
It is also right, though, to point out where other factors are making it worse: floodplain problems, drainage being covered by development etc.
The difference: we do, in fact, know, that extremes will increase in number and power. So it seems quite reasonable to me to say: look, do you want more of this?
November 9, 2011 at 12:32 am
danolner – fact is, there is no “more of this”. There’s been aplenty already for decades in Genoa, all of it linked to urbanization (starting from the curious practice of paving over torrents).
As for climate change’s visible effects, the IPCC was not expecting them for a few decades. It might have been wiser to stick to that. Fishing around the world hoping people will die horribly and spectacularly, is no way to help building a balanced policy.
November 8, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Extreme weather link to climate change ‘can’t be ignored’ (The Independent newspaper, 1 July 2011)